Pokerq4 wants to bring you a brief insight into Denmark’s Poker regulatory landscape looking into 2012. Throughout this week we will give you information on what the Danish poker regulation will mean for the poker players and pokers operators. We have listed an overview below:
Let’s start off by saying that Denmark will likely regulate by Jan – Feb in 2012. Applications for operators to apply for licenses will commence on January 1st 2012, however from past experiences with France and Italy (two active regulated markets), it may be slightly delayed.
The main reasons for Denmark implementing regulation, among others are, consumer protection, defending against fraudulent activity and distributing any profits made to charitable organisations.
So what’s going to happen I hear you say? Well… This is still not entirely finalised but there are few things we can say for sure.
- Denmark will run a cross –border solution, (Danish poker players are not restricted to only playing other players within their country – opening liquidity globally).
- Dankse Spill will no longer be the dominating monopoly for gaming within the country, (However they do not currently offer poker or casino).
- Poker players will be able to set their own deposit limits, whether every 24 hours, 7 days or month.
- Acquiring a license is relatively cheap for operators, costing in the region of DKK 250,000 – 350,000 dependent on whether the operator requires multiple product verticals.
- A further fee will need to be paid by the operator’s dependent on their overall yearly Gross income. This is to be paid within one month of them acquiring a license.
- Full documentation (passport, utility bill) will need to be provided prior to a player being able to play at a licensed poker operator.
- Player exclusions must last for a minimum of 1 month; however players can also select a 24 hour cooling off period.
- Players are able to initially register an account; however this will only include a few details surrounding the user. Once verification has taken place, the operator must then create a real gaming account on behalf of the user.
- 20% taxation on all poker gross earnings for the operator, to be taken yearly.
The Danish government has also looked to implement a “cooling off” period, in which any operator applying for a license must remove all their current activity within the market for a minimum of 6 months, prior to having a decision being made on the approval of their license. The Danish government has stated this is so the regulatory body can be given enough time to review the applications.
However, numerous poker operators have complained stating that it is clear that the Danish government is only protecting their own invested interests by implementing this “cooling off” period to provide the government run Danske Spill enough of a head start against its future rivals in lapping up the poker market share.
It remains to be seen as to whether the above will actually be approved, as it still needs to run through EU parliament.
Later in the week PokerQ4 will take a look at what the Danish Poker regulation will mean for both the poker players and the poker operators.
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