New Online Gambling Rules in Denmark

As of July 01, 2010, Danish gambling laws allow for legal online gambling in a variety of forms. The new laws provide a structured system for the licensing and regulation of online gambling websites for any qualifying gambling groups who are willing to pay the licensing fees. Interestingly, the new laws do not dismantle the old Dansk Spil gambling monopoly; instead, the group has been granted a six month lead on the online gambling industry, since other groups will not be granted licenses until January 2011. Dansk Spil has already signed with Party Poker, and will be offering internet gambling services using the Party Poker platform.  

Other gambling groups wishing to establish online gambling sites in Denmark must meet certain requirements. Operators must have an office that is physically located in Denmark, and must have a reporting system in place that complies with Danish tax rules. The current tax rate is approximately 20% of gross revenues. A licensing fee has also been put into place, with a price of €140.000. Currently only casinos and poker rooms are covered by the licensing scheme. Online sports betting is handled separately, and for now, no licenses will be given for online bingo games in Denmark.  

No absolute rules have been made about how unlicensed operators will be dealt with, but a few rumors are going around, and one of them involves IP blocks at the ISP level. It has been suggested that these blocks would be aimed at both sites that offer unlicensed gambling services in Denmark as well as site that promote them. 

In the meantime, it seems people are getting prepared for the change. The internet domain onlinecasino.dk was recently purchased by an unknown individual for the impressive sum of $580,000. It is currently being used as a promotional site, but it has been revealed that the owner is registered and licensed by the Gambling and Lottery authority in Malta, so it could well turn into a proper gambling site once the new licensing scheme is in place.