Danes Say Ja to Online Poker
Written by RogerCP | Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
It’s amazing how long it has actually taken the Danish government to realize that the only way to go for its gambling industry is deregulation; but there you have it – news that the government has finally decided to liberalize the market and remove a monopoly that has been in place for a mind blowing sixty years.
The government announced sweeping reforms that would implement partial liberalization of the market, with the main aim being to ensure that social causes continue to receive what they need and for customers to be afforded protection.
The news is good on a number of planes, not least because foreign online poker companies will now be able to offer their products through the Danish media and operate on a level playing field.
“We are looking forward to, together with the Danish government, creating a modern, regulated and responsible Danish gambling market,” said the Chief Executive Officer of Unibet, Petter Nylander.
The biggest change that will be seen by this new policy is that the traditional monopoly on the gambling market held by the state owned Danske Spil will come to an end. The company will only remain in control of scratch off ticket games and the Lotto, while foreign companies can now offer casino and poker games online as part of the changes.
“It will be nice to get some clarity on the issue after so many years of uncertainty,” said H.C. Madsen, the Managing Director of Danske Spil. “We’ll also be able to offer casino gambling and poker now, which we couldn’t do before”.
So what brought about the Danish government’s sudden change of heart? It probably has to do with a very hefty lawsuit hovering over its head, after chargers were brought against the government by the European Commission that Denmark is violating free market regulations.
It will be interesting to see whether the other countries who have been threatened with the same type of lawsuit – Finland, Sweden and Germany among them – will also do an about turn on their gambling policies and allow foreign operators to compete with the current monopoly companies.
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· Written by RogerCP · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
