Denmark’s gambling regulator Spillemyndigheden has turned its attention to the video games children play at home, launching a national awareness campaign on Monday 26 October about gambling-style mechanics in gaming. The campaign, titled “Kasino på børneværelset” (casino in the children’s room), is aimed squarely at parents rather than at the games industry.
According to the regulator’s announcement, gaming has become an ordinary part of daily life for many young Danes, while a number of popular titles include features that resemble gambling. The authority wants mothers and fathers to take a closer look at what their children are actually playing and to talk about it at home.
From bedroom to casino floor
The centrepiece is a short film in which an ordinary child’s bedroom gradually turns into a casino. It is running on Meta, YouTube and TV2 Play, as well as on Folkeskolen.dk, the Danish news site for teachers.
Spillemyndigheden has also taken the message onto the high street. Shop fronts in three cities have been dressed up to look like the launch of a new venue called “Casino Kids”: at Bruuns Galleri in Aarhus, on Vestergade in Odense and on Købmagergade in Copenhagen. No such venue is opening. The fake signage is designed to stop passers by and prompt them to think about the gambling elements their children may meet on screen.
Director Anders Dorph argued that the public conversation about children and digital media tends to centre on screen time. In his view, parents should pay equal attention to what is inside the games and to the mechanics young players run into.
Parents pointed to StyrPåSpillet
The campaign directs families to StyrPåSpillet.dk, the authority’s information platform for parents and professionals. It covers gaming, gambling-like features and gambling addiction, and offers guidance on how adults can raise the topic with children and teenagers.
The initiative builds on years of work by the Danish regulator in this area. In 2021, Spillemyndigheden and the national welfare research centre VIVE published a study based on interviews with 107 children and young people aged 10 to 19, plus five young adults who had experienced serious problems with gaming or gambling. VIVE concluded that gambling-related features in games and skin betting were comparable to online gambling, and it urged parents in particular to get involved in their children’s online activity.
Part of a wider push on young people
Protecting minors has been a recurring theme in Danish gambling policy. A political agreement on the gambling sector, signed on 24 October 2025, was presented as a package to curb problem gambling and shield children and young people.
The new campaign arrives as the regulated Danish market continues to shift towards online casino, as shown in the authority’s figures on gambling revenue for August. Elsewhere, the line between video game monetisation and gambling has moved into the courts, with Valve facing a class action over loot boxes in the United States.
Spillemyndigheden has not announced any new rules for game developers as part of the campaign. For now, its focus is on informing parents.
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Denmark’s Spillemyndigheden has launched a campaign urging parents to look at gambling-style mechanics in children’s video games, including Casino Kids shop fronts.
The post Danish regulator targets gambling elements in children’s gaming appeared first on CasinoBeats.