Part 5: Regulatory uncertainties
unregulated operator.
“But there will always be a black
market – because consumers who
were happy with a black market
operator before 2012 will stay.”
Yet, as mentioned above, the
combined marketing efforts of
the licensed operators will slowly
have an effect, eating away at the
remaining holdouts.
“The new generation will have
a focus on regulated operators
because they are the ones that are
marketing,” he says. “It will shrink
over time.”
Jansson at Better Collective
agrees. “If as a consumer I try and
get past a block to an unlicensed
operator, most will not go past the
blocking warning,” he says. “99%
will choose an operator with a
Danish licence.”
For those black market operators
that do remain, there is the real
risk of prosecution. In February,
the Danish regulator won its
court battle to force ISPs to block
blacklisted sites and went ahead
with the addition of 24 unlicensed
sites.
Each of these sites was found
to have Danish language and
customer service options. It was
noted by the authority that six of
these sites were skin betting sites
offering betting on esports.
This was the first time that the
authority had added to the backlist
since 2012. It now stands at 49.
The combination of
reasonable taxation
levels and the presence
of major international
brands have helped
drive out the
unlicensed operators
from the market
Andrew Cochrane, SBTech
Denmark: Insights and data on Europe’s pioneer model for igaming regulation
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