Why Online Casinos Are Overtaking Traditional Gambling Categories in Denmark, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
Sometime in 2025, online casino took the top spot in Denmark’s gambling market and became the country’s largest category by gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first time. The category managed to edge past monopoly lotteries, bringing in 4.309 billion DKK compared with 3.492 billion from lotteries. Thanks to accessibility and the historical structure of Denmark’s gambling market, lotteries were long the biggest gambling category, but sustained online casino growth successfully made it a much larger part of the market.
The Danish Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden, also reported that 73% of gambling in Denmark took place online in 2025, up from 70% in 2024 and a far lower 33% in 2012. As the liberalized gambling market has matured, become increasingly regulated, and adapted to changing habits, a growing share of gambling has taken place online. What changed was the makeup of the market itself, with online casino growing into a major gambling category, rather than serving as a digital version of an established product.
Denmark’s Fully Established Online Gambling Market
Denmark may be seeing record numbers in online gambling, but the country has had a regulated online gambling market since 2012. Over a decade later, online gambling has moved from a niche product to a major part of the market, sitting alongside the country’s traditional gambling products that have been established for generations.
In the beginning, the online casino sector was a relatively new way for Danish players to access casino games beyond brick-and-mortar venues. Now, there are numerous licensed operators competing for players, with different game libraries, bonuses, brands, and other features available throughout the regulated market. Changes in that landscape, as tracked by Casino24, provide another stark indicator of how established online casinos have become in the country. With increased maturity has come changes in the way operators compete. In the past, simply offering casino games online was more of a differentiator, whereas today operators must find other ways to stand out.
New Jersey’s Digital Casino Market Overtakes Atlantic City Casinos
Just over 3,800 miles from Denmark, New Jersey is putting its own spin on the same trend. In 2025, internet gaming revenue narrowly overtook the hefty annual revenue generated by Atlantic City’s physical casinos for the first time. Atlantic City is known as the Las Vegas of the East Coast, offering the classic casino experience while generating billions of dollars in gaming revenue. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reported $1.16 billion in year-to-date internet gaming revenue through May 2025, compared with $1.12 billion for the nine casino hotels.
If we compare this scenario with Denmark, we can see that Denmark’s online casino sector overtook lotteries, which were formerly the country’s largest gambling category. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s internet gaming sector overtook land-based casino wins, which refers to revenue from Atlantic City’s physical casinos. These represent different parts of their respective gambling markets, so both milestones shouldn’t be treated as equivalent. However, what they do have in common is how they illustrate the development of the broader market. In both countries, an online gambling category moved ahead of a longstanding traditional part of the market in the same year.
Online Casino Moves Past Retail Slots in Pennsylvania
There’s a third variation of the trend happening just an Amtrak ride away in Pennsylvania. In 2025, iGaming revenue surpassed retail slot machine revenue, which meant online casino stood ahead of the largest individual category in the state’s land-based gambling market.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported $2.43 billion in slot machine revenue and $2.77 billion in iGaming revenue. These statistics don’t show that online casino has overtaken the state’s entire land-based casino market, but it does show that iGaming revenue is more than catching up. Still, retail slots and table games combined generated revenue well above that of iGaming. Again, that distinction makes Pennsylvania different from New Jersey, where annual internet gaming revenue did surpass revenue from physical casinos.
What Drives Online Casino Growth?
There are a few practical reasons why online casino revenue can grow so quickly once a regulated market is established. For starters, digital operators don’t have the constraints of a physical venue, opening hours, or location. Players, meanwhile, don’t need to travel to a gaming venue, which means operators can serve many more customers on a digital platform. The economics of adding games also aren’t dictated by floor space and equipment. Online operators can simply add games to an existing platform and have their catalogs grow within the same digital infrastructure.
Then there’s the point of mobile access. Online casino reports, including Denmark’s, show that smartphones have accounted for the majority of online casino spending in recent years. Online casino games are increasingly accessible through devices people already use throughout the day, removing another barrier.
Physical Casinos Still Hold Their Ground
Just because online casino is growing so rapidly doesn’t mean physical casinos are disappearing any time soon. In fact, we’re seeing substantial investment in the physical casino model around the world. Las Vegas remains one of the world’s major gambling destinations with millions of visitors and billions in gaming revenue every year. At the same time, new casino developments are emerging in markets that have never had a commercial casino industry before. The UAE is one of the most notable examples, with Wynn Al Marjan Island being developed as the country’s first casino resort.
The states and countries with online casino markets that have become this established are simply examples of what can happen after regulated online casinos have had years to mature. Denmark, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania all allow regulated online casino gambling under different licensing frameworks, regulatory systems, and market structures. Those differences affect how an online casino market can develop and how the digital and physical sides of the industry interact.
Three Markets, Three Milestones
In Denmark, online casino overtook lotteries. In New Jersey, internet gaming surpassed Atlantic City’s casino win. In Pennsylvania, the broader iGaming category generated more revenue than retail slots. All these milestones differ, but the point is that digital gambling has grown from a new alternative into a major part of the gambling economy in established regulated markets. And all of this is happening while traditional gambling continues to thrive and attract serious revenue, investment, and play.
The 2025 figures we’ve discussed in this article aren’t about showing how one format is replacing another, but about how much the gambling market has expanded beyond the casino floor. After years or even decades of regulated online gambling in some markets, online casinos have now had enough time to mature that they can compete with long-established gambling categories.
The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Casinocenter.com do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine’s management. All content is intended solely for entertainment and informational purposes. Gambling may be illegal in some jurisdictions—it is the responsibility of each visitor to check and comply with local laws before participating in online gaming. Always read the terms and conditions, and gamble responsibly.
