Danish regulator's school talks shift students toward entertainment framing
A study of nearly 2,000 Danish students found classroom sessions run by the Danish Gambling Authority increased awareness of licensing and game mechanics while reducing the idea that betting is a route to money.
Classroom talks delivered by the Danish Gambling Authority appear to have changed how young people in Denmark think about betting and games of chance, according to a report covering nearly 2,000 students at youth education institutions, reported by iGaming Business.
The sessions, held between September 2024 and March 2025, explained how wagering products and their mechanics work. Researchers compared 1,433 survey responses gathered before the talks with 534 collected three to six weeks later. Because the two sets could not be matched to individual students, the study tracks overall shifts in attitude rather than change within any one respondent.
Most participants were aged 16 to 20, and the surveys were sent to entire classes online, once ahead of a scheduled session and again weeks afterwards.
Money motive fades, entertainment rises
Fewer students cited winning money as their main reason for taking part after hearing the presentations, while more described the activity as a form of entertainment. The authors said this matched one of the sessions' central points: that such products are designed as leisure spending rather than a reliable source of income.
The research also suggests many participants had not previously realised how broadly the term applies. A notable number, particularly young women, said they had not known that scratchcards, including seasonal Christmas calendar cards, counted as a regulated product. Among female respondents, the share who said they had previously taken part in some form of wagering rose sharply once this was clarified in the post-session survey. The report's authors attributed the jump to improved recognition of past behaviour rather than a genuine rise in participation.
Licence mark recognition climbs
Awareness of Denmark's official licensing mark, which signals that an operator is authorised to trade in the country, also improved. Among male respondents, the proportion describing themselves as strongly aware of what the mark meant rose from 39% before a session to 61% after, per the report.
More than three-quarters of respondents endorsed core messages delivered in the talks, including that payback rates always sit below 100%, that sustained profit is mathematically improbable, and that the regulator's logo denotes Danish authorisation. Around 69% said they felt in control of their own spending on these products.
The authority's director, Anders Dorph, framed the goal as giving young people "a nuanced view of gambling and the mechanisms of the game". He added that seeing measurable impact from the sessions made him "very happy and proud of our efforts".
Heine Jakobsen, a special consultant within the authority's presentation team, said many pupils were taken aback to learn how widely the rules apply. "There is a general ignorance about which areas are defined as gambling, so it is an eye-opener for many, especially girls, when we tell them that scratchcards such as Christmas calendar scratchcards are also gambling," he said.
The findings arrive as the Danish regulator intensifies its focus on under-age exposure, including a separate initiative called Casino in the Children's Room, which aims to widen debate about young people's digital habits beyond screen time to the design of in-game content and mechanics.