Online Gambling in Denmark – Regulation, opportunity & challenges

Online gambling is regulated and subject to local licensing. Since 2012, two types of licences have been available:

• Online casino licence, which combines table games, online bingo, slot machines 
• Online betting license which covers online and land based betting.

On the 1st Jan 2020, Denmark introduced new measures into legislation to increase the social responsibility controls of operators, making it the main responsibility of the operator to protect consumers from misleading/ non-compliant advertising of their brands. 

These measures included:

• Mandatory monthly, weekly or daily player deposit limits 
• Restrictions on sales promotions, both offer and pay-out. Limits including not obligating players to deposit more than 1000 DKK, with promotional sums themselves not exceeding 1000 DKK.
• Betting promotions not to exceed 10x the player’s stake
• At least 100 players to be targeted with the same offer
• Players to be given at least 60 days to fulfil the terms of a promotion, and no offer can be tailored to a single player

Further to these changes, in April 2020, the regulator implemented new marketing rules making it mandatory for all gambling related marketing to clearly show the age limit for betting and information about the national self-exclusion register ROFUS. Operators must also direct customers towards the responsible gambling guide by regulator Spillemyndigheden.

Illegal Online gambling Websites

ISP-blocking measures are active and the Danish Gaming Authority (DGA) has the  power to block operators that have been targeting Danish customers without the requisite licence. In 2020, the Danish Gambling Authority had increased its focus on finding the websites that either offer or market gambling to Danes without a licence.

In recent months, Spillemyndigheden, the Danish Gambling Authority, blocked 55 illegal gambling websiteswhich were seen to be offering online gambling services without the required license. This result being the highest number of sites blocked at once since the Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) began blocking websites in 2012.

Taxes

Danish operators have been subject to a 20% tax rate since the online gambling market opened in 2012. In recent months a new rate has been implemented taking the tax from 20% to 28% of gross gaming revenue. 

In Denmark, player's who have won while gambling online, must pay income tax on the prizes and winnings. This is due to the fact that most online casinos don’t deduct taxes before paying out the prize or cash winnings. Thus, as a player, you are required to declare all winnings and pay the associated tax on it.

The impact of the Covid – 19 Pandemic

Similar to most European markets, Denmark has experienced a fall in gaming revenue due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly on its land based venues. The most severe impact came from the cancelation of all live sporting events since March 2020, resulting in gross gaming revenue (GGR) falling by 11% year-on-year for Q3 2020. However, it was an increase of nearly 50% compared to Q2 in 2020, a step towards normality. 

What’s next for 2021?

While 2020 was an interesting year for operators with the challenges posed by the Covid – 19 Pandemic and the introduction of new legal requirements, 2021 could be an even tougher year with further restrictions on operators, affiliates, advertising and marketing likely to come into play. 

Rightlander constantly monitors affiliate websites that are targeting the Danish market, identifying illegal content, misleading advertising and compliance-related terms specifically identified as mandatory for promotional use as part of the Danish Gambling Authorities new rules.  If you want to find out more about Rightlander’s affiliate monitoring services, please get in touch: [email protected]