Danish Regulator Blocks Access to 25 Illegal Gaming Sites

The Danish Online Gambling Regulator, also known as Spillemyndigheden, made an official announcement to the public that they have decided to block access to 25 unlicensed gaming websites.

This gambling authority collaborated with the country’s telecommunications and internet service providers on blocking the Danish customers from gaining access to 10 online gambling websites and 15 skin betting sites.

Spillemyndigheden’s proposition to use strict measures against providers that didn’t respect the Danish rules was approved by the Copenhagen City Court.

A Word from a Representative

“We use our authority to block websites on an ongoing basis. We do this to protect the gaming providers who are actually authorised to offer games in Denmark, but also to protect the players,“ Spillemyndigheden director, Birgitten Sand, explained.

“Here we are focusing in particular on sites that offer skin betting, as they often target children and adolescents under the age of 18,” she added.

The Blocked Websites

So, which gaming websites have been blocked in Denmark? First, 1xBet has been blocked together with various sites operated by Curaçao-based companies.

Equinox Dynamic’s Nordic Casino, Orientxpresscasino and La Fiesta Casino websites have all been blocked as well…

…while access to Game Tech Group’s, Ramses Casino, and two domains for its Cashpot Casino site have also been shut down.

Other websites that are blocked in Denmark are Alpha Interactive Solutions’ Casino Napoli and Mr. James Casino, as well as Usoftgaming’s Ph.Casino site.

It is interesting to mention that the big part of banned websites are the skin betting ones.

What Are Skin Betting Sites?

Well, those are the websites where virtual items from computer games, like weapons or armor are used as collateral for betting.

Actually, this was the second time that the Danish court approved the order to block the access to these type of websites…

…so around six were blocked in February 2018.

The last time, websites that were blocked offered skin betting on the first person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which is particularly popular in esports competitions.

Plans for the Future

The Danish gambling regulator mentioned that they renewed their strategy for identifying these types of websites so that they could catch more illegal operators than before.

The new search strategy proved that it was very effective, so the regulator plans on identifying and blocking even more sites in the future.

“We will continue to work purposefully and persistently to find and block illegal skinbetting websites, although the work needed to document and block these sites tends to be complicated,” Sand explained.

“We will continue our efforts to tackle illegal gambling and look carefully for the skin betting sites, especially, since they often involve children playing computer games that can suddenly evolve into gambling,” she said.

“Therefore, we are also looking at other methods to get rid of these illegal pages, while simultaneously continuing to monitor unlicensed betting and gaming sites targeting Denmark,” she added.

Source:

“Danish regulator blocks access to 25 illegal gaming sites“, igamingbusiness.com, April 3, 2019.