Danish Gambling Watchdog Cracks Down on Illegal Gambling Sites

A total of 742 websites were deemed problematic.

Danish gambling watchdog Spillemyndigheden has announced it has given orders to local internet service providers (ISPs) to blacklist a total of 18 websites.

According to a statement made by Spillemyndigheden, the reason these websites were blocked was a fact they were found to be in violation of the country’s Gambling Act.

Keeping the Market Safe

The gambling regulator conducted three web searches during December, whose goal was to identify the websites operating without a proper licence. The results of these searches were compiled in a report, produced together with the anti-fraud unit of the Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen).

The report also covers the work the Gambling Authority has done on the matter of illegal gambling since the country’s online market was regulated back in 2012.

According to the report, a total of 742 websites were deemed problematic, while a total of 22 petitions were sent to the operators of those websites, informing them there actions were violating the Gambling Act.

18 out of 22 websites didn’t respond to these petitions, and Spillemyndigheden had to order local ISPs to block them. The IPSs did protest against these orders, but in the end, they had to comply, blacklisting the sites.

Illegal Gambling Still “a Challenge”

The report pointed out the number of websites with an illegal supply of gambling products that were found through web searches was continuously low, which matched the Danish Gambling Authority’s impression of the illegal market: that there were fewer websites with gambling products directed at the local market.

However, the report added that websites with illegal marketing and promotion of gambling still represented a challenge.

According to estimates made by the report, another 20 to 25 sites should be blocked in the next “blocking session”. These are mostly esports skin-betting sites, and its flagging should be completed in the coming period.

It should be noted that the blacklisting of 18 sites is quite lower than the number of notices issued in 2017. Back then, 31 operators were warned they had been operating outside the law. Nevertheless, it still represents the highest number of domain-blacklisting order issued by Spillemyndigheden since 2012.

The regulator has also been focusing on the rising number of gambling groups operating on social networks (namely Facebook). The authorities have turned to Facebook administration in a bid to report illegal content. As a result of these activities, 4 such groups were closed last year.