Danish gambling regulator permits use of overseas IT systems
The Danish regulator Spillemyndigheden has changed its regulations to allow igaming licensees to use IT systems outside of the country.
Denmark.- The national gambling regulator Spillemyndigheden has made a change to its regulations for online gaming licensees to allow operators to use IT systems located outside of the country.
Until now, gaming licensees could only provide betting and gaming services in Denmark using IT equipment that originated in Denmark and had been inspected.
However, the Danish regulator has had to change the regulation because of EU rules on the free sharing of data.
Holders of Danish gaming licences will now be able to use an IT system in any country after inspection. The condition is that Spillemyndigheden must be able to inspect the systems being used.
For operators who also have licences to offer gaming in another country, the inspection condition can be waived in cases in which Spillemyndigheden has a cooperation agreement in place with the other country’s regulator.
The two former executive orders that required the location of IT equipment in Denmark have ceased effect as of May 30.
Danish gambling revenue falls 15.3% in first quarter
While online casino revenue continues to scale new heights in Denmark, it’s still not enough to make up for the loss of land-based gaming revenue in the country.
Denmark’s total gambling revenue from the regulated market in the first quarter fell 15.3 per cent year-on-year to DKK1.31bn (€175.5m).
Online casino revenue increased by 28.7 per cent year-on-year and by 7.7 per cent against 2020 Q4 to a quarterly record of DKK717m.
But that didn’t offset the zero revenue from land-based gaming. Denmark’s casinos, gaming halls and restaurant casinos closed under new Covid-19 restrictions from December 9 until April 5, meaning they were closed for the entire quarter.
Sports betting revenue also fell since retail betting was unavailable. Revenue fell 7.4 per cent year-on-year and 18.8 per cent from the previous quarter to DKK588m.
The figures continue a pattern seen last year, which saw Denmark report its first annual decline in gambling revenue since the re-regulation of the market in 2012, with revenue down 8.7 per cent year-on-year to DKK6bn.
See also: NordicBet to resume sponsorship of Danish football
Danish self-exclusion figures
The national regulator also reported that 27,962 people were signed up to Denmark’s self-exclusion system Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere (Rofus) at the end of Q1.
Some 18,050 of those had permanently blocked access to gambling, while 9,912 excluded for between one and six months.
The national problem gambling helpline StopSpillet received 1,305 calls in the first quarter, most of them from players.
See also: Danish gaming regulator gets go-ahead to block 55 sites
