EC thumbs up for Danish online casino law

More than a year after passing their new online gambling laws (June 2010), Danish authorities have been given the thumbs up from the European Commission (“EC”) to go ahead and implement them.

On September 22, the EC released a statement proclaiming the laws to be consistent with EU provisions and come 1 January 2012, Denmark will bid farewell to Dansk Spil’s long held local gambling monopoly and  transition to a liberalized online casino market.

The new laws

The gambling reforms introduced back in 2010 comprised four Acts:

1. The Act on Gaming (administered by the Danish Gambling Authority)
2. The Act on Duty on Gambling (administered by the Ministry of Taxation/SKAT)
3. The Act on Danske Spil A/S (administered by the Ministry of Finance)
4. The Act on Distribution of Profits from Lotteries and Betting on Horse and Dog Racing (administered by the Ministry of Culture).

In relation to the online casino world, the first two Acts are key.  The Act on Gaming, at section 18(1) gives the Danish Gaming Authority (Spillemyndigheden) the power to grant licenses for the operation of an online casino and the provision of games including roulette, baccarat, punto banco and blackjack. The Duty on Gambling Act, at section 11(1) sets a gaming tax on licensees equal to 20% of gross revenue.

From a live gaming perspective, the good news is that the permitted games happen to be consistent with the type of games offered in live dealer format.  Don’t be surprised if we start to see the introduction of Danish speaking dealers at some of the bigger platforms in coming months!

What we will definitely see is a bunch of the bigger EU based operators (usual suspects) rushing to get their applications submitted to Spillemyndigheden in time to be awarded a license to operate and market their online casino in Denmark from the 1st of January 2012.  Deadline for submission is October 17.