Gambling Regulations in Denmark
Very recently and via de Act Number 848 of the year 2010 about Gambling, the rules and policies about this topic changed. It was enforced two years after the issuing of the document, in 2012, and became an example for other countries to model after when it comes to gambling and gaming national policies.
Review
In Denmark, there was a gaming monopoly for years in both traditional and online casinos. The situation changed, though, with the introduction of new policies and regulations about the topic. These days, there is a great number of different online casinos legally working in the country. Any person can find information about them reading articles and guides about casinos like https://www.slotozilla.com/dk/gratis-spins and these casinos operate in Danish or in other languages for foreigners who want to gamble.
So, the aforementioned regulations have some implications related to:
● regulating all the games under just one policy;
● keeping gaming operations fair and centralized;
● protecting minors and others who might be at risk of being scammed or pressured into becoming addicted to gambling;
● stop organized crime and prevent casinos from funding criminals.
So, the Danish gaming Act is a document that consists of several components. The first one, for example, states all the objectives and goals of the Law. The second one focuses on defining key concepts that are useful in understanding the law. Component 3 has to do with the licenses to open a new casino and the fourth one gives detailed criteria of everything that people have to do when trying to apply for a license.
Component 5 refers to the sales and advertising policies that are allowed in regards to gambling, and the next one speaks about the rights and obligations of the team that works for the casino. All the rest have to do with admin, taxes, and money that those holding the license have to pay to the state.
Part 12 of the law is related to how the government and the DGA will deal with confidential info about clients and the casino itself, and the fines to apply in case the law is broken. Furthermore, the final part includes the Video Gaming Act with other provisions related to the topic and how to enforce the act in case of necessity.
Today, every matter related to gambling and betting is regulated by an entity called Danish Gambling Authority (DGA), which of course responds to the government, specifically the Ministry of Taxes (also called SKAT).
Plus, there are other institutions taking care of more specific matters like marketing and customer care, such as the Danish authorities in those departments, like the Customer Ombudsman of the country, or the Financial Supervisory Authority. In the beginning, the Danish Gaming Act was part of another law between the federal government and the financial institutions of the nation. The one who suggested signing such an agreement was the Ministry of Culture and Finance, addressing the need to terminate the monopoly existing in the field of gambling. Then, this proposal was mingled into what is known today as the agreement.
As already described, the most important law regarding gambling in Denmark is the Gambling Act, where they define video games, wagering games, and lottery ones. For example, the first one relies on the results of one event, the second one depends on luck and the mix games which also bring abilities into play. And the Gaming Act covers each one of these activities.
The Countries’ Regulation
As part of the Gaming Act, there are also some Orders that regulate the games. These are called Executive orders and go from number 65 to 67 and 1301 to 1304. The first documents have to do with traditional casinos that have a land-based existence and they also regulate the activities of online casinos and sports betting sites. The last orders have to do with lottery over charity, gaming machines in restaurants, and the regulation of prices. Plus, they also have decided on certain regulations regarding marketing practices and ads when it comes to the nation.
And this law has changed over the years after being officially put into action in the country. For example, they carried out a study consulting certification and technological regulations done in 2014, March. Six months later, the law was amended once more, exempting certain platforms from taxes and regulating the activities of digital trademarks in the years to come. And once again, it was modified in December to add some regulations regarding taxation and how to bet legally. All these modifications started out in 2020.
How to Gamble in Denmark
Up until 2008, it was not possible for people outside Denmark to play in their online casinos. Ever since that year, a lot of people have wanted to open the market for operators who are not based in Denmark. For example, in 2010, foreign owners started to see that they could actually compete with nationally-based casinos and betting sites. For example, Danske Spil was the major company that owned casinos in the gaming industry for a lot of decades.
Today, the new operators in the field of betting and casinos would like to become the first ones to ever get approval from the DGA and the federal government and obtain a legal license to operate there. But this is still not possible: the authorities are still benefiting only the monopolistic Danske Spil and this means that permits are lengthy and hard to get.
The DGA has outlined the requirements and rules for foreigners to apply for a legal permit to have a casino in Denmark. Every candidate who applied will go through a rigorous process of evaluation by this institution before getting the permit and before being able to install a casino or betting site within the country.
More than 24 operators of online casinos and betting sites got their permission by the SKAT as soon as this law was implemented. But it’s true that the Danish government is very demanding when giving permits because they want to prevent sites from operating without a license in regards to the online betting market in Denmark.