The draft act, also adopted by the Danish parliament on Friday, will liberalise online bingo by allowing private operators to apply to offer this on a licensed basis “with the objective of channelling players away from the unregulated market into a Danish regulated market, including Danish protection of the players”. The opening is planned for January 1, 2018.
The change for bingo has been justified by Danish authorities on the basis that “the unregulated market for online bingo is estimated to be nearly twice the size of the regulated market operated by the monopoly”, meaning that it’s “no longer considered to be the most suitable model for [achieving] the objectives underlying gambling legislation, including protecting the players by the provision of games in a reasonable, responsible and transparent manner”.