Danish Online Gambling Laws are Subject to Change

According to the European Commission, Denmark’s pending gambling laws are not up to par when it comes to the regulation of online casinos. The EC has, at this point, allotted one month to the Danes in order for them to bring their drafted law into accordance with EC law.

If the Danish government were to try and pass the proposed law further without making any changes, it would be taking the risk of garnering infringement proceeding from the EC. There were several provisions within the draft that were found to conflict with EC law. They include:

• a continued monopoly on inter alia pool betting for horse racing,
• the blocking of certain internet service providers and financial transactions, 
• marketing bans, and 
• negligence in utilizing security and controls already offered by other EU jurisdictions.
  

The Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), Sigrid Ligne, said that he supported the Danish effort to move towards a more regulated opening of the online gambling market, but all new laws must be held in compliance with EC law. Ligne also said: “We welcome the European Commission's continued resolve to ensure that all gaming and betting legislation in the EU complies with the core principles of the EC Treaty.”

The Danish draft law was originally submitted to the EC and other EU member states on July 7th of this year. Their response and detailed opinion regarding the draft law returned yesterday, just 3 months after its original submission. Denmark has until the 9th of November to modify the bill. If it is still not considered to be in compliance with EC standards, the gambling law will be delayed further, for a time period of at least one month.