Greenland is a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and its gambling law is divided between two legislators. Lotteries, betting and online casino games offered in Greenland are governed by a Danish statute written specifically for the island, the Act for Greenland on Certain Games (Act No. 223 of 22 March 2011, now consolidated as Act No. 336 of 7 April 2016). It is administered from Copenhagen by the Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) and the Danish tax administration. Gaming machines, charitable lotteries and the distribution of gambling revenue fall under Greenland’s own legislation, passed by the Greenlandic parliament, Inatsisartut. The Danish Gambling Act itself does not apply in Greenland. There are no casinos, and public-health researchers describe bingo, often played in the evenings in sports halls and community houses, as very widespread. This guide sets out the legal framework, how online gambling is treated, the position of players, taxation and the support available.
Key points
- The Danish Gambling Act states that it “does not apply to the Faroe Islands and Greenland”. Instead, the Act for Greenland on Certain Games has applied since 1 January 2012.
- Lotteries and horse and dog race betting are reserved for the Danish lottery company Danske Spil A/S. Betting and online casino licences are open only to operators that hold a multi-year Danish licence for the same games, or, on a small scale, to operators based in Greenland.
- No land-based casino can be licensed, and Greenland has none. Gaming machines and charitable lotteries are regulated by Greenlandic acts rather than the Danish-made statute.
- Licensed operators pay duty to the Danish state: 20% of gross gaming revenue on betting and online casino, and 15% of lottery winnings above DKK 200. Denmark pays Greenland’s Self-Government a fixed annual sum, set at DKK 43.25 million (2015 level) from 2017.
- Surveys from 2006–2010 found that 16% of men and 10% of women in Greenland had been problem gamblers at some point in their lives. Free treatment is offered by the national addiction service Allorfik.
Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.
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Historical development
Before 2012, gambling in Greenland rested on a patchwork of Danish “realm” legislation (rigslovgivning) and Greenlandic home-rule acts. According to the explanatory notes to the Danish government’s 2010 bill (bill L 73, 2010–11), lotteries, betting, certain online casino games and local pool betting were covered by Danish law, chiefly the Danish Tips and Lotto Act. Gaming machines in arcades and restaurants and charitable lotteries were regulated by Greenland’s own legislation.
Under that system Danske Spil held a monopoly on lottery and betting products in Greenland. The bill’s notes record that online casino games had been permitted but that Danske Spil had not offered them “to any significant extent”. After deducting administration costs and prizes, about 30% of the turnover was returned to Greenland’s Self-Government for distribution to charitable and public-benefit purposes. For 2009 that surplus was about DKK 26 million.
When Denmark replaced its monopoly with a partly liberalised licensing system in 2010–2011, it adopted a parallel statute for Greenland on the Danish model. The bill was introduced on 17 November 2010 by the then tax minister and became Act No. 223 of 22 March 2011. The bill replaced the old profit-sharing arrangement with a fixed annual transfer from the Danish state to Greenland’s Self-Government, so that Greenland would receive “the same income from gambling in Greenland as before”. According to the Danish Tax Agency’s legal guidance, as reproduced by TAX.DK, the Act took effect on 1 January 2012.
The transfer was later raised. A 2016 Danish amending bill (L 84, 2016–17) increased the sum from DKK 40 million to DKK 43.25 million at 2015 prices, about DKK 44 million in 2017, with effect from 1 January 2017. The bill noted that the liberalised products, betting and online casino, had grown “at the expense of the monopoly games” since 2012.
Legal framework
Danish legislation and the division of powers
Under self-government, Inatsisartut legislates in the fields that have been transferred to Greenland. Gambling is split. The Danish Gambling Act (Consolidated Act No. 1303 of 4 September 2020) states in § 76 that “the Act does not apply to the Faroe Islands and Greenland”. The relevant Danish statute is therefore the separate Act for Greenland on Certain Games (lov for Grønland om visse spil), in its consolidated version No. 336 of 7 April 2016, as amended with effect from 2017.
Changes to this Act are made by the Danish parliament, the Folketing, but Greenland is consulted. In 2016, for instance, the Greenlandic finance minister put a proposal to Inatsisartut (EM 2016/025) asking it to accept the Danish amending bill before it was passed.
The Act for Greenland on Certain Games
The Act’s stated purposes (§ 1) mirror those of Danish law: to keep gambling at a moderate level, to protect young and vulnerable people, to ensure fair and transparent games, to maintain public order and to prevent gambling from supporting crime. It applies to games involving a stake that are “offered or arranged in Greenland”, including on vessels in Greenlandic territory (§ 2). Every such game needs a licence (§ 3). The Act defines four types of game: lotteries (games in which the chance of winning depends only on chance), betting, pool betting and online games, which are games concluded between a player and an operator “by means of distance communication” (§ 5).
The explanatory notes to the 2010 bill (as published on Retsinformation) list “Lotto, Joker, bingo and scratch cards” as examples of lotteries. They also explain that an online game counts as offered in Greenland if it is aimed at Danish or Greenlandic players and the operator accepts stakes from people in Greenland.
The Act does not cover everything. In its reply to the Folketing’s Greenland Committee in 2010, the Danish tax minister explained that the bill did not cover non-profit lotteries, gaming machines or casinos, because “Greenland has its own rules on non-profit lotteries and gaming machines” and has no casinos.
Greenlandic legislation
Greenland’s own acts in this field deal mainly with duties and the use of gambling revenue. The official register of Greenlandic legislation for 2006, published by the Danish Prime Minister’s Office, lists:
- Landstingslov No. 4 of 27 March 2006, amending the Landstingslov on lottery duty (lotteriafgift); and
- Landstingslov No. 7 of 1 June 2006 on the distribution of tips and lotto funds.
Greenland also levies a duty on prize-paying gaming machines. A report by the Danish High Commissioner in Greenland (Rigsombudsmanden, 28 September 2010) records that Inatsisartut debated a bill that year to raise this duty by DKK 5,000, with expected extra revenue of about DKK 900,000 a year.
Current Greenlandic legislation is published on the Self-Government’s official law portal, Nalunaarutit.gl. We were not able to identify, from sources we could read, the current Greenlandic act that sets the permit rules for charitable lotteries and association bingo, or the Naalakkersuisut department that issues such permits. Readers who need that detail should consult the portal or Naalakkersuisut directly.
Regulator and licensing model
Greenland uses a licensing model with a reserved monopoly segment. A licensing model is one in which any operator meeting the legal criteria may apply for permission; a monopoly reserves an activity for one named operator. Under § 4 of the Act, the “gambling authority” is the Danish Minister for Taxation or the body to which the minister delegates the task. In practice this is the Danish Gambling Authority, which grants licences and supervises compliance (§ 20). The Danish tax administration collects the duties (§ 32). Appeals go to the Danish National Tax Tribunal (Landsskatteretten) or the Danish Tax Appeals Agency (§ 37).
| Type of game | Who may be licensed | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Lotteries (the 2010 bill gives Lotto, Joker, bingo and scratch cards as examples) and horse and dog race betting | Danske Spil A/S only (or a wholly owned subsidiary), for the equivalent games it is licensed to offer in Denmark | § 6 |
| Betting and online casino | Operators holding a multi-year Danish licence for the same games | § 7 |
| Small-scale betting and online casino | Persons resident and companies established in Greenland; one-year licence, taxable gaming revenue capped at DKK 1 million | § 8 |
| Local pool betting on cycling, dog, pigeon and horse racing | Local organisers; licences of up to three years | § 9 |
| Land-based casinos, gaming machines, charitable lotteries | Not licensable under the Act | See Greenlandic legislation |
The Danish Tax Agency’s legal guidance (section J.A.3.2) adds three points. Applicants for a Greenland licence must meet all the criteria that apply under Danish gambling law. A § 7 licence “can only cover the games for which a licence has been granted in Denmark”, with the exception of online bingo and betting on horse and dog races, which cannot be licensed under § 7. And the guidance states plainly that “no licence for a land-based casino can be granted under the Act for Greenland on Certain Games”.
Licences under § 8 carry an application and supervision fee set at DKK 50,000 in the Act (§ 23) and indexed annually. The online casino games that may be licensed are listed in § 8(2): roulette, baccarat, punto banco, blackjack, poker and gaming machines in an online casino. The Gambling Authority may approve other game types. We could not find an official published count of operators holding Greenland licences.
The Danish Gambling Authority also supervises anti-money-laundering compliance for the games covered by the Act. According to the legal guidance on money laundering (J.A.3.6), the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act has been brought into force for Greenland by decree (anordning). The Authority’s supervision covers online casino, betting and lottery; “all other games” fall outside it.
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
Online casino games and online betting are lawful in Greenland when offered under a licence issued under the Act for Greenland. In practice this means an operator that already holds a Danish licence and has extended it to Greenland, or a small locally established operator under § 8. A Danish licence on its own does not cover Greenland: because the Danish Gambling Act does not extend to Greenland, an operator targeting Greenlandic players needs a separate Greenland licence.
Enforcement tools are narrower than in Denmark. The consolidated Act contains no provision on blocking websites, meaning orders requiring internet providers to stop access to unlicensed gambling domains. The relevant tools are:
- Criminal fines (§ 45) for anyone who, intentionally or with gross negligence, offers or arranges games without a licence, facilitates participation in unlicensed games, or provides premises for them. Companies can be held criminally liable (§ 47), and fines must take account of turnover and the gain sought (§ 48). In aggravated cases, measures under the Criminal Code for Greenland may be imposed (§ 45(2)).
- Payment rules: § 19(1) empowers the minister to make rules on payment transfers of stakes and winnings to and from illegal gambling operators. We did not find any rules issued under this power.
- Advertising: advertising for operators that do not hold a licence under the Act is an offence (§ 45(1)(5)). Licensed operators’ marketing must not, in its design or choice of media, target children and young people under 18 (§ 17).
Licensed operators may not accept stakes from anyone under 18. The exception is land-based lottery products, which may be sold to people aged 16 and over (§ 15). We found no published record of enforcement action against offshore websites accessible in Greenland.
Position of players
The penalty provisions of the Act are aimed at people who offer, arrange or facilitate gambling, provide premises for it, or advertise unlicensed operators. They do not make it an offence for a player to take part in a game, including with an unlicensed online operator. We found no record of any player being prosecuted or fined for gambling online in Greenland.
That does not mean playing on unlicensed sites is risk-free. A player using an operator without a Greenland licence is outside the reach of the Danish Gambling Authority’s supervision, including its rules on age limits, fair games and anti-money-laundering controls. Private games of small scale are outside the Act altogether (§ 2(3)).
A note on radio and television: § 2(2) provides that payment to take part in a guessing competition in a radio or TV broadcast is not treated as a stake if it meets set conditions, such as a surcharge of no more than DKK 5 per telephone number per day. We could not verify the legal basis on which bingo broadcast on local radio operates in Greenland.
Taxation
Operators
Duties under the Act for Greenland are paid to the Danish state, not to Greenland. The rates, set out in the Act and confirmed in the Danish Tax Agency’s guidance on games offered in Greenland (E.A.9.16), are:
| Type of game | Duty | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Lotteries | 15% of the part of each winning that exceeds DKK 200 | § 24 |
| Horse and dog race betting (Danske Spil) | 11% of gross gaming revenue | § 24 a |
| Betting and online casino | 20% of gross gaming revenue (or of commission in exchange and commission-based games) | § 25 |
| Local pool betting | 11% of stakes, less DKK 27,500 per race day (2026 level), for up to 24 race days a year | § 26 |
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) means stakes received minus winnings paid out. Operators registered in Denmark add their Greenland duties to their Danish returns. Operators with only a Greenland licence must register separately with the Danish tax administration.
In return, Denmark pays Greenland’s Self-Government the fixed annual transfer described above, which Greenland distributes to non-profit purposes (§ 35). In 2010, asked whether part of the money should be earmarked for combating gambling addiction, the Danish tax minister replied that “it is up to Greenland’s Self-Government to decide how the funds from gambling in Greenland are to be used” (answer to question 3 on L 73).
Greenland’s own duties apply to the games it regulates: the lottery duty and the gaming machine duty mentioned above. We could not verify their current rates.
Players
The 15% lottery duty is charged on the winning itself, but it is paid by the licence holder rather than declared by the player. We could not find an official statement on whether other gambling winnings are subject to Greenlandic income tax. Players with large winnings should ask the Greenland Tax Agency.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Research suggests that gambling problems are more common in Greenland than in Denmark. Using data from the Greenland Population Survey 2006–2010, the National Institute of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark (SIF, 2014) reported that about 16% of men and 10% of women had been problem gamblers at some point in their lives. Comparable Danish surveys found 2.6% (2005) and 2% (2010) among people aged 16 and over. The researcher behind the study, Christina Viskum Lytken Larsen, told SDU that bingo is very widespread, often held in the evenings in sports halls and community houses, and that problem gambling often goes together with harmful alcohol or cannabis use.
Young people’s attitudes have also been studied. A 2019 focus-group study of 31 pupils aged 12–16 in Nuuk, published in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health, found that all had experience of gambling. None regarded bingo as gambling, because they saw it as being “about fun”. The authors also noted the arrival of sports betting and skin-betting, where players stake virtual items from video games.
The main source of help is Allorfik, Greenland’s national outpatient addiction service. It offers free treatment for problems with alcohol, cannabis and gambling and can be reached on +299 34 14 51. A 2023 evaluation by the National Institute of Public Health describes it as a service for “people with alcohol, hash and gambling addiction in Greenland”, founded in 2016 with centres in Nuuk, Sisimiut and Qaqortoq and, from 2018, Ilulissat and Aasiaat. Treatment uses cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing over at least ten weeks.
The Danish Gambling Authority publishes Greenlandic-language information on the Danish helpline StopSpillet (+45 70 22 28 25). We could not confirm whether ROFUS, the Danish self-exclusion register, applies to games licensed under the Act for Greenland, so players should not assume it does. See also our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- No new consolidation since 2016. As of the Danish Tax Agency’s 2026-2 guidance, the Act for Greenland on Certain Games remains in its 2016 consolidated version, as amended from 2017. Fee and deduction amounts are indexed each year.
- Danish reforms do not extend to Greenland. In 2024 the Danish Ministry of Taxation consulted on new rules for non-profit lotteries and a liberalisation of land-based bingo, notified to the European Commission on 2 July 2024 as notification 2024/0360/DK. In August 2025 it sent the Folketing a draft amendment creating a revenue-limited online casino licence for bingo by walkie-talkie and local radio. Both amend the Danish Gambling Act, which does not apply in Greenland. Equivalent changes for Greenland would require separate legislation.
- Greenlandic debate. During the 2016 debate on raising the annual transfer, the party Partii Naleraq said Greenland had “enormous problems” with gambling, according to the Inatsisartut proposal papers. It also pointed out that bingo and other games were not covered by the Danish proposal. We found no Greenlandic gambling bill or consultation from 2023–2026 in the sources we could access.
Casino listings for players in Greenland
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator holds a licence under the Act for Greenland on Certain Games. A Danish licence alone does not cover Greenland, and no public register of Greenland licence holders could be identified. Readers should check an operator’s status with the Danish Gambling Authority before playing.
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Sources and further reading
- Retsinformation (Danish Ministry of Taxation), Bekendtgørelse af lov for Grønland om visse spil, LBK nr. 336 af 7. april 2016 (2016).
- Retsinformation, Lov for Grønland om visse spil, lov nr. 223 af 22. marts 2011 (2011).
- Retsinformation, Bekendtgørelse af lov om spil, LBK nr. 1303 af 4. september 2020 (2020).
- Retsinformation, Forslag til lov for Grønland om visse spil (LSF 73, 2010–11), with explanatory notes (2010).
- Folketinget, L 73: Forslag til lov for Grønland om visse spil, som fremsat (17 November 2010).
- Danish Minister for Taxation, Answer to question 1 on L 73 from the Greenland Committee (2010).
- Danish Minister for Taxation, Answer to question 3 on L 73 (14 December 2010).
- Folketinget, L 84: Forslag til lov om ændring af lov for Grønland om visse spil (16 November 2016).
- Naalakkersuisut / Inatsisartut, EM 2016/025: proposal on accepting the amendment of the Act for Greenland on Certain Games (2016, Folketing appendix 2 to L 84).
- Rigsombudsmanden i Grønland, Report to the Prime Minister’s Office on Inatsisartut’s autumn session (28 September 2010).
- Statsministeriet, Nalunaarutit 2006: register of Greenlandic legislation (2006).
- Namminersorlutik Oqartussat, Nalunaarutit.gl: Grønlandsk lovgivning (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Skattestyrelsen, Den juridiske vejledning 2026-2, E.A.9.16 Spil udbudt i Grønland (reproduced by TAX.DK, accessed 13 October 2026).
- Skattestyrelsen, Den juridiske vejledning 2026-2, J.A.3.2 Specielle forhold for at opnå tilladelse i Grønland (reproduced by TAX.DK, accessed 13 October 2026).
- Skattestyrelsen, Den juridiske vejledning 2026-2, J.A.3.6 Hvidvask (reproduced by TAX.DK, accessed 13 October 2026).
- Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, SDU, Ugens tal 02/2014: problem gambling in Greenland (2014).
- University of Southern Denmark, News article on gambling problems in Greenland (28 January 2014).
- International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Gambling in Greenlandic adolescents (2019, DOAJ record).
- Rubin, S. E. et al., Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, Allorfik: Afhængighedsbehandling i Grønland (14 December 2023).
- Allorfik, Official website (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Spillemyndigheden, StopSpillet (Greenlandic-language page) (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Skatteministeriet, Letter to the Folketing’s Tax Committee on a draft amendment to the Gambling Act (21 August 2025).
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