Spillemyndigheden launches campaign on gambling-like video game features

Denmark's Spillemyndigheden launched a campaign on 26 October 2026 aimed at drawing parents' attention to mechanics resembling gambling in video games played by children and teenagers. The campaign is titled "Kasino på børneværelset" (A casino in the children's bedroom), according to the authority.

The authority said many titles contain mechanics that can resemble those of games with money prizes, and that greater involvement of families in understanding digital content is needed. The campaign encourages parents to take an interest not only in screen time but also in the characteristics of the games and the mechanics children encounter during play.

Anders Dorph, director of Spillemyndigheden, said the debate on children and digital media often concerns screen time, but that the content of games and the mechanics children come into contact with when playing are equally important.

A central element is a referral to the information platform StyrPåSpillet.dk, where parents, educators and professionals can learn more about gaming, gambling-related elements and gambling addiction. The portal also offers practical advice for discussing these subjects with children and teenagers.

The campaign includes a film in which an ordinary children's bedroom gradually turns into a casino, representing the presence of typical gambling elements within young people's video game experience.

In three Danish cities, shop facades have been turned into apparent advertising for a casino called "Casino Kids": at the Bruuns Galleri shopping centre in Aarhus, along Vestergade in Odense and on Købmagergade in Copenhagen. The installations simulate an announcement of the imminent opening of a casino for children, a deliberately provocative message that does not correspond to any real commercial activity, the authority said.

The initiative is to be distributed through several digital and media channels, including Meta, YouTube, TV2 Play and the education portal Folkeskolen.dk, with the aim of reaching a broad audience of parents and people involved in educating young people.