The Danish gambling authority, Spillemyndigheden, has successfully petitioned the district court to have 49 websites offering illegal gambling in Denmark blocked.
Those in question were reportedly mainly offering traditional casino games, such as roulette, gaming machines and poker, as well as betting. 13 were skin betting websites.
This is the ninth time that the Danish Gambling Authority has gone to court to block illegal websites, with these activities now being undertaken twice per year as opposed to on an annual basis.
Since 2012, when the gambling market in Denmark was partially liberalised, a total of 276 illegal sites have been blocked.
“It is a very important task for the Danish Gambling Authority to ensure that Danes are not exposed to gambling that is offered illegally in Denmark and that does not comply with the requirements for consumer protection, among other things, set out in the gambling legislation,” commented Anders Dorph, Director of the Danish Gambling Authority.
“At the same time, we must ensure that the gambling operators who have a licence to offer gambling in Denmark can operate on the Danish market without unfair competition from providers who do not have to live up to Danish requirements.”
These latest blocks came courtesy of a July 14, 2023, Copenhagen City Court ruling in favour of the Danish Gambling Authority across all 49 cases that had been notified.
The Danish Gambling Authority constantly monitors the market to detect illegal gambling via automated searches, as well as reports from individuals and businesses.
If sites offering illegal gambling are discovered, those in question are made aware of the violation and receive a request to cease the offer.
Should this not be followed, the regulator will take its request to the district court to have the illegal sites blocked.
“We are constantly trying to optimise our efforts against illegal gambling, and one of our latest initiatives is, among other things, to block illegal websites more often than before,” added Dorph.
“This means that the illegal sites are active in Denmark for a shorter period of time, because the sites will be blocked sooner after we have identified them.”
The DGA notified that a game is considered aimed at Denmark if one or more of the following elements are present:
- Danish language.
- Danish currency.
- Payment cards that only work in Denmark.
- Danish customer service.
- Multi-game digital distribution platform.
- The offer has a composition that makes it aimed at Danish players. For example, by offering bets on lower-tier sporting events.
