Spillemyndigheden, the Danish gambling regulatory authority, scored a big win over illegal operators last week when a local court approved its request to block 55 illegal gambling sites. The sites included a mix of skins betting and casino sites that were serving Danish players without actually obtaining a Danish gambling license. It’s a big move that nearly doubled the number of sites blocked from the country since 2012.
Authorities at Spillemyndigheden would have acted sooner to shut down the 55 scofflaws, but were slowed down by a judge who demanded more proof that Danish players were actually gambling on the sites. Regulators responded to the judge’d request by presenting screenshots of Dane players’ actual play. And that was all it took.
Upon reviewing the evidence, a judge gave regulators the OK to block the ISP addresses of 22 casino sites such as Easybet.com, Slotjoint.com and KingBillyCasino.com, according to a report from iGamingBusiness.com. Also shut out of Denmark were 23 skins betting sites, which tend to draw a younger audience than casino sites.
Spillemyndigheden director Anders Dorph commented on the situation saying, “One of our most important tasks is to protect players from illegal gambling, at the same time, we must ensure that the providers who are licensed to offer games in Denmark can run their business under orderly conditions. The record high number clearly shows that there is a need for the targeted effort, and we will therefore maintain the increased focus in the future.”
Since 2012, the Spillemyndigheden has blocked a total of illegal gambling 145 domains, including the 55 from this batch.