Danish Online Gambling Market Opening Up Soon

June 03, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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The pressure that has been exerted by the European Commission regarding online gambling within the European Union has been the reason that some EU member states are now considering opening up their online gambling markets, or have a plan in place which will begin to open up these markets.

Denmark is one of the member states that did not want to open up their online gambling market, preferring to keep only their online gambling monopoly, Danske Spil, in operation. However, after some pressure has been exerted, the EU country has made plans to open its borders to foreign online gambling operators.

It will, however, be difficult to break into the Danish online gambling market because even though the market is due to be opened up soon, Danske Spil is still being given special treatment.

The Danish online gambling market is set to be opened up on July 1st this year. This is only one month away, however there is no need for any kind of rush, in order to break into the market as far as foreign online gambling operators are concerned. The new legislation will, for the first time, license and legalize online gambling operations that are not run through the Danish state monopoly.

Online casino operations, and online poker operations will need licenses to operate in the country, as will sports betting sites. Sports betting sites will need to apply to a different authority for their online gambling licenses. At this point in time, online bingo operations have been excluded from applying for any kind of licensing.

The new licenses will only be issued sometime around January 2011. Since Danske Spil has already got a license, being the state monopoly, they will be allowed to continue their operations while other online gambling operations are being processed. This gives Danske Spil a full six months to continue to try and secure their position in the market. In order to help them do this, they have signed an agreement with Party Poker, which will result in the company using Party Poker’s casino and poker platforms from 2011.

Licensing costs per year are 140,000 Euros per license, which is fairly high. Those wishing to run their operations under Danish licensing, will have to ensure they have a physical presence on Danish soil, as well as a satisfactory way of reporting their income for the Danish taxation system. Taxes are expected to be about 20% of gross revenue.

The Danish government is expected to take a hard line against unlicensed online gambling operators, which will include ISP blocks to reinforce Danish law.