Denmark's draft law designed to create a more open but still limited online gambling market in the Scandinavian country was not approved by the European Commission. The commission issued a detailed opinion against the Danish proposal to regulate online gaming and betting earlier this week. The draft legislation is intended to regulate both the on - and offline gaming and betting market in Denmark.
Sigrid Ligné, Secretary General of the European and Betting Association (EGBA) said: “We support the Danish government’s intention to move towards a regulated opening of the online gaming market, but this has to be done in compliance with EC law requirements. We welcome the European Commission´s continued resolve to ensure that all gaming and betting legislation in the EU complies with the core principles of the EC Treaty.”
The Danish draft law was notified to the European Commission and the other Member States on 7 July 2009. The draft text was made publicly available upon notification but the Danish government later invoked the confidentiality procedure.
According to the EGBA, a number of key provisions are highly doubtful under EC law, including:
• the licensing regime fails to take into account securities and controls already offered by other EU jurisdictions, in conflict with jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice;
• continued monopoly on inter alia pool betting for horse racing;
• introduction of ISP and financial transactions blocking and a marketing ban;
• prohibition for non-Danish residents to participate in Danish licensed games.
According to Sigrid Ligné; “EU consumers demand a diverse, safe and secure online gaming and betting offer. More and more Member States are responding to these demands by moving away from their existing system of a gambling monopoly to a licensing system adapted to the Internet. We support the Danish government´s intentions but emphasize the need to ensure that any new legal framework is compliant with the EC Treaty. We would welcome an opportunity to share our expertise and knowledge of other licensing regimes in the EU to ensure an effective regime can be introduced at the earliest opportunity.”
The detailed opinion extends the standstill period until 9 November, during which time Denmark cannot adopt its draft legislation. Denmark is required to reply to the Commission’s views before adopting the legislation. If Denmark adopts the current text without taking into account the Commission’s objections, the Commission can immediately launch infringement proceedings. Germany is an example of this process in action; on 31 January 2008, the Commission launched an infringement procedure against Germany after it failed to respect the detailed opinion issued against it in March 2007.