Denmark Rallies Pan-European Support to Protect Its Online Gambling Community

Denmark is proving to be a tenacious opponent in the battle against websites offering illegal gambling offers which incentivise Danish players to join unlicensed casinos. Far from choosing to go to war with these black market sites alone, the Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) has rallied the troops gaining support from 36 European countries and jurisdictions.

A statement on the Spillemyndigheden website reads:

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“Among the members, there is a great desire and agreement to increase cooperation across Europe in the fight against gambling operators who offer gambling without permission. This must be ensured, among other things, through meetings and the exchange of information about websites that offer gambling without permission in the respective countries.”

At the core of their efforts is the drive to offer players from regulated markets the same protections, securities, and support they receive from their local gambling authorities. A goal which is simply not possible when they are gambling at unlicensed venues.

 Stop Targeting Danish Players

In a comprehensive report on its efforts to curb illegal promotions from being presented to local players, the Danish Authority outlined what it considers to be "targeting" local players.

The primary considerations are when a promotional webpage or offer for an unlicensed online casino or betting site contains:

1. Danish language.
2. Danish currency.
3. Debit cards that only work in Denmark are an option.
4. Danish customer service.
5. The video game platform Steam is used as a gambling login.
6. The website registration process has been pre-filled using Denmark, Danish etc.
7. Due to their composition, gambling offers are directly aimed at the Danish market.

It also considers any direct marketing material that lists offers from unlicensed gambling sites as a contravention of its gambling act. When such sites or online promotions are discovered, they are immediately issued a cease and desist notice.

 The Authority Proves To Be Efficient and Effective

The regulator's no-nonsense approach to addressing black market casino offers is proving highly effective. Looking back at their results from 2012 up to 2022, the DGA released the following statistics on the number of sites offering illegal offers:

As you can see, the Authority remains active in identifying potentially harmful gambling sites and attempting to shut down those that it feels cross the line between offering information on online gambling and targeting Danish residents with unlawful offers.

 Partnering with Major Social Media Platforms

The Authority recognises that while reaching out to the offending sites has been incredibly effective to date, the sooner they can force these sites and promotional campaigns to shut down, the better. To achieve this, they are cooperating with the platform providers such as Facebook and Google to work on shutting the offenders down as soon as they are discovered.

Commenting on this process, the Authority said:

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“Before illegal gambling content is removed from Facebook or Google, the Danish Gambling Authority has contributed by securing evidence, reference to the legal basis and our assessment of the illegal content, so the two media can remove the content on an informed and documented basis.”

Facebook has granted the regulator “special access to reporting illegal gambling”, which receives priority manual reviews and can result in group closures and account suspensions when illegal activities are verified.

The development of a similar tool set is in discussion with Google. The expected outcome is that the reporting infrastructure will allow Google to swiftly “remove the illegal content”.

This all aims to protect players and provide them access to safe and secure online casinos and gambling portals compliant with the Danish gambling act.

Streaming Services Present a Unique Challenge

With the popularity of online casino content on streaming services like Twitch.tv and Kick.com, there was a natural increase in concerns over whether these channels target Danish players.

After reviewing 15 Twitch channels and more than 60 live streams and videos, the Authority could find no specific examples of solicitation of Danish players. However, this has not stopped the DGA from proactively trying to educate and guide online slot streamers, saying:

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“Many of the streamers the Danish Gambling Authority have been in contact with were not familiar with the gambling legislation, and we have therefore made a big effort to guide them on the rules.”

The hope is that by informing them of the gambling act, streamers with Danish residents in the audience can look to work with licensed operators or at least provide clear disclaimers to discourage Danish residents from joining the sites they are promoting.

If you are based in Denmark and would like to ensure that you support locally licensed online casinos, please visit our Denmark Online Casino page to find your next gaming venue.