The Danish Gambling Authority Blocks 98 Illegal Gambling Sites

On 8 July, the court at Frederiksberg ruled in favour of the Danish Gambling Authority to have 98 websites blocked that offered illegal gambling to Danes.

The Danish Gambling Authority countinously monitors websites that offer gambling to Danes without a licence. The blocking of the sites is done through the court, which assesses whether they should be blocked, and now the court in Frederiksberg has ruled in favour of the Danish Gambling Authority and have ordered the Danish internet service providers to block 98 gambling sites.

In total, the Danish Gambling Authority has had 870 illegal gambling sites blocked since 2012.

When the Danish Gambling Authority assesses that a website is offering gambling illegally, the Danish Gambling Authority first asks the operator to stop the offer. If this does not happen, the Danish Gambling Authority will contact the telecommunications providers, who is asked to block access to the websites so that their customers cannot access the sites. After this, the telecommunications providers ask for the court's word that the sites are illegal and that they must shut down access to the websites. There is therefore a longer process from the Danish Gambling Authority’s assessment that a website offers gambling illegally to the fact that it can no longer be accessed by Danish citizens.

The Danish Gambling Authority’s warrant for blocking access to the illegal websites is done with a DNS blocker. In this case, the connection between the player and the website of the gambling operator is blocked by the telecommunication provider used by the player.

All gambling operators with a licence to offer gambling in Denmark must use the Danish Gambling Authority’s label of approval. The label helps players to see which gambling operators have a licence to offer gambling on the Danish market. It contributes to creating a safe gambling market and is not allowed to be used in other contexts without prior written approval from the Danish Gambling Authority.