888 Secures a Danish Online Gambling License

888 Poker and PokerStars are among the 38 operators that secured a Danish online gambling license ahead of the new online gambling regulations coming into effect on 1st January 2012.

The new changes to Danish online gambling regulations mark the single largest change that the country’s gambling industry has gone through in recent decades. Up until recently the entire Danish gambling market was controlled by a state-run monopoly.

The Danish minister for taxation Thor Mӧger Pedersen said: “From January the gambling market will be orderly and we will ensure that holders of a betting and online casino license to operate on the Danish market also contribute to the society. Danes, as well as the many associations supported by the gambling market, can be joyful.”

For a long while the Danish government tried to introduce new regulations that will bring the country in line with European Union guidelines with regards to online gambling. The process of changing the legislation began in 2008 but was met with many delays.

Most of the delays were due to land-based operators objecting to the lower tax rates that the legislation imposed on online operators compared with the taxes imposed on land-based operators.

After court hearings were dragged for longer than two years, the European Commission finally declined the position of the land-based operators. The courts did agree that the new legislation unjustly discriminates against land-based operators but concluded that it was necessary in order to finally kick-start a regulated and safe online gaming market in Denmark.