The Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) has blocked 82 websites that offer illegal gambling – the highest number in the history of the regulator.

The decision marks the eighth time the DGA has gone to court to block so-called illegal websites that offer online gambling options to Danish consumers without a licence.

A court in Frederiksberg ruled in favour of the regulator in all 82 cases on 22 September, rubberstamping the biggest clampdown on the offshore sector since the country launched its legal online gambling market in 2012.

It beats the previous record of 55 blacklisted websites, which was set in 2021. Over the last decade, the DGA has banned a total of 227 illegal websites.

The outlawed domains can be found here. The most high-profile company in breach was esports betting specialist gg.bet, while most of the other offenders were casino operators.

Danish legislation rules that online gambling operators must not offer their services to Danish citizens without a licence, while offshore websites are not allowed to use the Danish language, Danish currency, Danish payment cards or a Danish customer service team.

“The authority was created to ensure the framework for a fair gambling market,” said DGA director Anders Dorph.

DGA director Anders Dorph: “It is very important that we ensure that the providers who are licensed to offer games in Denmark can run their business under orderly conditions, and therefore our work to block illegal websites is very important.”

“One of our most important tasks in that context is to protect the players against illegal gambling, and to ensure that they are not exposed to gambling providers that do not have a licence in Denmark.

“At the same time, it is very important that we ensure that the providers who are licensed to offer games in Denmark can run their business under orderly conditions, and therefore our work to block illegal websites is very important,” he added.

The regulator monitors the gambling market to detect offshore websites through automated searches, but also by following up on leads from people and businesses.

If the Gambling Authority assesses that a website offers games aimed at Denmark without permission, the Gambling Authority asks the provider to stop the illegal offering. If this does not happen, the case will proceed to the district court, where the Gambling Authority will ask for the website to be blocked by the Danish internet providers.

Since the current Gambling Act came into force in 2012, the Gambling Authority has had a total of 227 illegal websites blocked by the district court.

One of the reasons for the large increase in the number of blocks this year is that the Gambling Authority has prioritised the area in 2022.

The court has instructed internet services providers (ISPs) to block the websites in question by 6 October 2022 at the latest.

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