Center Manager at the Center for Gambling Michael Bay Jørsel is not surprised. The pandemic’s shutdowns of major sporting events have had a major effect on the Danes’ desire to gamble.
– No commercials, no ball on the turf, no draft beer, no cheerful songs. Everything was just shut down, he says.
Michael Bay Jørsel explains that sports betting is something he sees a lot of people have problems with at the Center For Gambling Addiction. Especially the advertisements for the sports bets that run on the sports channels help to lure game birds into the trap, he believes.
Without being able to predict the future, he also hopes that the temporary break from sports betting can have a somewhat lasting effect on the Danes’ game consumption.
– I hope that this closure has meant that you might turn the slant in your mouth for a moment before you start playing too much, says Michael Bay Jørsel.
During the shutdown, the Center for Gambling Addiction investigated whether gambling addicts who gamble on sports betting would move to online casinos after there was no notable football on television.
Michael Bay Jørsel emphasizes that the study was merely an internal study for his own use.
– We asked sports bettors and live bettors (people who bet on sports bets, ed.) If they wanted to migrate to other games now that they can no longer bet on sports bets. Nine out of ten answered resoundingly no, he says.
The Center for Gambling Addiction also asked the relatives of the gambling addicts, where two out of three answered that they had become calmer and safer after there was no longer as much sport of importance on television.
Director of the Danish Gaming Authority Anders Dorph is particularly pleased that this is the first time in nine years that there has been a decline in gaming consumption in Denmark. He also points to the closure as a significant factor.
And although he expects that gaming consumption in 2021 will also be lower than normal, because, among other things, the physical casinos are still closed, he reckons that the number will stabilize.
– 2021 will probably look like 2020 to some extent. It is difficult to predict the future, but I would then think that it will straighten out and land at the level it has been at in the past, he says.