Danish Regulator Officially Blocks 83 Non-Legal Websites

Spillemyndigheden, the gambling authority in Denmark, managed to successfully block 83 websites that provide non-legal gambling in the said state at the court in Næstved. In addition, this marks the 10th time that the aforementioned regulator has officially included the court in order to block non-legal websites, and the regulator has now stepped up its attempts to block non-legal sites.

The website blocking process must go via the court:

Since 2012, which represents the year when the Danish gambling market was partly allowed to have more freedom, the Spillemyndigheden has officially blocked non-legal websites like online and wagering casinos in the state that offer games to Danish citizens without authorization. Official blocking of websites is done via the court, meaning that on February 15 of this year, the court in Næstved fully agreed with the regulator that each of the 83 sites referred to in the report have to be blocked.

All in all, the aforementioned gambling regulator has officially blocked 359 non-legal sites since 2012. However, with a total of 83 pages, the record for formally blocking online sites in 1 year has already been surpassed.

Relatedly, Anders Dorph, director of Spillemyndigheden, projects that this year will provide an additional number of blocks. In this regard, he said according to the official press release: “We have intensified our work to shut down the illegal sites, so that we now get them blocked twice a year instead of once as previously. In this way, we can get hold of even more sites and minimize the period when Danish players are exposed to games that are offered illegally in Denmark. Children and young people in particular are a vulnerable group. For instance, many of the illegal websites have very lenient requirements for age verification. Some of the sites also offer games that particularly appeal to children and young people, such as skin betting.”

Unlicensed sites don’t comply with the demands established in the gambling bill for, among many things, the protection of the consumers.

The process of finding illegal websites by the regulator:

The aforementioned authority relentlessly supervises the gambling market to discover non-legal gambling. For this purpose, automated searches are utilized, in addition to checking the reports of businesses and citizens.

If the non-legal site is discovered, the regulator notifies the owners of the site of the breach and requests from them to cease the non-legal offering. But, if they don’t comply with the request, the authority asks the district court to block those non-legal sites. The procedure goes like this because the internet suppliers in the state have to enforce an official blocking of those non-legal gambling sites.

As for the blocked websites, they primarily provide wagering and traditional casino games including poker, slot machines and roulette. Additionally, 8 of the websites are skin wagering websites. Skin wagering includes lotteries, casino games and wagering where the winnings and the deposit are represented by a skin, which represents a virtual object in computer games.

Non-legal gambling indicators:

It’s non-legal to target the regulated market of Denmark or provide games in the state but not having an official license from the aforementioned regulator. Also, the specific game targets the regulated market of Denmark, if 1 or additional number of the subsequent elements are present:

• the game selection has a composition which means that it is intended for Danish players. (e.g. by offering wagers on sports events in the lower ranks)
• Danish customer service Connection via Steam (Digital distribution platform for several PC games)
• a payment card that only works in Denmark
• Danish currency
• Danish language

In addition to this, it’s considered against the Gambling Act to advertise or transmit for gambling operators without a license. Also, each of the Danish licensed gambling operators should own the label of the aforementioned regulator prominently displayed on their marketing material and online site.

Only like that, the gambler may effortlessly check whether the operator has the necessary permission to provide games in the specified state.