New report on the liberalisation of Danish gambling market released

Currently, the French liberalisation plans are probably getting most of the industry’s attention. But in the background, at times almost neglected, several other countries, such as Denmark, are setting about liberalising large parts of their gambling market.

The Danish gambling market may not be as big as that of France or Italy, but the planned liberalisation is nevertheless highly relevant for the global market. Denmark is one of the first to liberalise its gambling market - The Danish government is one of the first in both the EU and Scandinavia to respond to the growing market share of Internet gambling operators and to the increasing pressure of the European Commission by liberalising its gambling market.

The report points that liberalisation goes beyond the online gambling sector - Whereas the French draft law limits liberalisation to selected online games, the Danish government goes further and also plans to open up the retail/land-based betting market. “We believe that an expansion to the retail sector is a more sustainable solution and therefore more likely to be taken up and adapted in other European countries,” the authors declare.

However, it is still an open question how developments in Denmark will influence the current discussions in the other, more protectionist, Scandinavian states. “We believe that other Scandinavian states will closely watch the implementation of Denmark’s liberalisation plans, its challenges, private operators’ actions, developments of tax/levies, and, last but not least, the impact on problematic gambling,” the report points.

MECN believes that private operators with a focus on Scandinavia should definitely participate in Denmark’s liberalised market. They could not only gather valuable experience but also present themselves as trustworthy partners for gambling operations throughout all of Scandinavia.

MECN’s new report includes detailed analyses of all relevant topics: Unique overview of the liberalisation process and content of the draft law and analyses of all sectors: interactive/online gambling, betting, lottery, gambling machines and casinos.

For more information: www.denmark-gambling.mecn.net