Gambling Monopoly in Denmark
Switzerland is not the only country in the European Economic area that benefits
from a state run gambling monopoly. Like the Swiss government, Denmark has a
state gambling monopoly that has complete control over all of the online casinos
and internet betting industry. And also like Switzerland, the European
Commission has previously discussed the fact that it is against the EC Treaty
that the countries are operating in the online casino without allowing other
sites in the EEA access to the in-state gambling industry. Unlike Switzerland
though, Denmark is in long-standing defiance of a EU infringement procedure that
mandated that the Danish government open up the gambling market.
Danske Spil is the Danish online casino and betting monopoly in question - and
the company can only take part of the blame for the continued violation of EU
policies and requests. In fact, the Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) has also
played a part in discriminating against online casinos and betting companies
attempting to enter the Danish gambling market. Case is point is Unibet, an
online casino betting company that recently participated in the Post Danmark
Rundt cycle tour – the DGA specifically disadvantaged Unibet while not hampering
Danske Spil in the least. Basically a former Danish politician, Freddy Blak,
summed it up best in his letter to the compliance commissioner, he notes that
many in the online casino and betting industries have been consistently
"discriminated against and ridiculed in Denmark over the past six months."
This blatant hypocrisy in the online casino and gambling industry has many in
the industry, and even the Danish government entirely fed up with the situation.
Most in the industry agree that Denmark will continue to violate the
Commission’s requests unless brought before the European Court of Justice for
enforcement.
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