Danish Gambling Regulator Blocks 49 Illegal Gambling Websites

The Danish Gambling Authority (DGA), Spillemyndigheden, the independent agency in charge of regulation of gambling in the country, announced that nearly 50 illegal gambling websites were blocked. Tasked with the regulation of online gambling activities, the Authority has been monitoring the market in Denmark since its liberalization dating back to 2012. Since then, whenever the Authority uncovers an illegal gambling website it would approach it and ask for the illegal offering to be discontinued. Alternatively, if the websites continue to operate in violation of the established gambling regulation, the DGA would ask a court to issue a block order which needs to be executed by internet service providers (ISPs) in the country.

On Monday, the Danish gambling watchdog revealed that the Copenhagen City Court ruled in its favor for the blocking of 49 websites offering illegal gambling services. This increases the total number of websites blocked since 2012 to 276. Releasing a list with further details, the DGA confirmed that stake.com is among the websites that were recently blocked. Although the announcement came this week, the DGA said that the websites were blocked as of July 14, 2023.

Besides confirmation for the newly blocked gambling websites, the Authority confirmed that it will now block such websites twice a year, changing its previous work model that featured blocks only once every year.

Spillemyndigheden Continues to Monitor the Gambling Sector

Anders Dorph, DGA’s director, explained that the Authority remains committed to battling the illegal gambling sector and optimizing its efforts. He explained that changing the frequency of banning illegal gambling websites will further improve the protection for Danish customers.

Additionally, Dorph spoke about the importance of the legal gambling market and the dangers of illegal gambling websites for Danes. He reiterated that illegal gambling operators lack any form of player protection and operate in breach of the established gambling regulations, making them unsafe for the customers.

“We are constantly trying to optimize our efforts against illegal gambling, and one of our latest initiatives is, among other things, to block illegal websites more often than before. This means that the illegal sites are active in Denmark for a shorter period of time, because the sites will be blocked sooner after we have identified them.“

Anders Dorph, director at Spillemyndigheden

Speaking about the regulated gambling operators, DGA’s director said that they should not face unfair competition from the black market and unlicensed gambling websites.

The DGA continues to monitor the gambling sector in Denmark and if necessary, it is prepared to enforce penalties and blocks for operators that offer their services illegally or in breach of the gambling regulations. The gambling watchdog reminded Danish customers that they can access a full list of the operators licensed to offer their services in the country via its website.