Newsletter 33

25 Nov 2016

PLEASE NOTE: THIS NEWSLETTER IS NO LONGER VALID. THE NEWSLETTER IS REPLACED BY THE DGA'S GUIDANCE ON LAND-BASED BETTING.

On betting

25 November 2016

The Danish Gambling Authority has experienced some level of doubt about which regulation apply when land-based betting is provided. (i.e. bets sold from a physical shop as opposed to online). Therefore, the present information provides a complete overview of the regulation that have caused doubts.

This newsletter replaces Newsletters nos. 5, 12 and 28.

At the same time, the purpose of this newsletter is to create alignment and transparency about land-based betting, since The Danish Gambling Authority has been asked several questions about different scenarios for providing land-based betting.

In order to create the transparency and alignment needed, The Danish Gambling Authority has decided to change the Danish terminology. Therefore, shops which were formerly in Danish called “væddemålsbutik”, will from now on only be called “spillebutik”. The English word will still be betting shop. 

Where may land-based betting be sold

Bets may only be sold in shops, betting shops and in land-based casinos.
A stall may also be considered as a shop or betting shop, in the case that the stall has physical limits.
Bets may not be sold in places with a licence to sell alcohol, except betting shops and land-based casinos.
Bets on electronically simulated sports events may only be provided in betting shops. 

Where may self-service terminals be placed

Self-service terminals which are operated by the customer and not the staff, may solely be placed in betting shops and land-based casinos. This is regulated by the terms in licence holder’s licence.

Definition of a stall

A stall must have physical limits. Often a stall will be temporary, for instance put up in at a market place, a festival or next to a stadium. Physical limits means that e.g. walls or partitions bound the stall from the surrounding area.
This means that a stall cannot be established inside a shop.

Like other betting shops, a stall must have an approved manager. Besides, the licensee is responsible for securing that any licences from other authorities, e.g. municipality and police, have been required. 

Definition of a shop

The Danish Gambling Authority has been asked what may be considered as a shop, especially in the cases where the applicant wishes to establish a betting shop in connection with another business, e.g. a restaurant.

Regarding this matter, The Danish Gambling Authority refers to ‘Instruction on retail planning’ (’Vejledning om detailhandelsplanlægning' (only available)) by the Danish Ministry of Environment and the Danish Nature Agency. The publication refers to rulings made by the Environmental Board of Appeal.

It appears from the instruction that a shop unit must be an independent shop with physical limits from the surroundings. Furthermore, the shop must have direct access from the open or from a public, communal area.

Each shop must appear and work as individual units, separated both in function and physically by design, signboards et cetera. It is mandatory that the shops have the possibility to be closed from the communal area, one by one. This means that the area used for the costumers’ payment must be placed inside the demarcation of each shop. It is not allowed to have a direct, free access from the sales area of one shop to the other. Furthermore, it must not be possible to bring a product from one shop and pay for it in another shop.

What is a betting shop

In order to define whether a shop is a betting shop, please pay attention to the following two criteria:

  1. There must not be a considerable sale of items sold in kiosks or of staple goods
  2. The shop’s turnover

Re item 1)

A shop is only considered a betting shop if it is decorated specifically as such. This means that a betting shop may not provide a considerable selection of items sold in kiosks or of staple goods. Shops with a large range of items sold in kiosks, petrol stations and supermarkets cannot be labelled as a betting shop, even if the turnover from gambling is proportionally large.

Likewise, The Danish Gambling Authority assesses that restaurants cannot be considered as betting shop, as they are not decorated specifically as such and their product range is too large.

Re item 2)

In the assessment of whether a shop is a betting shop, the turnover from gambling (e.g. sale of bets, gaming machines, Lotto) must be compared to the shop’s remaining turnover (from items sold in kiosks et cetera). In order for a shop to be categorised as a betting shop, the turnover from gambling must amount to at least 50% of the shop’s total turnover.

All staff in betting shops must be over 18 years old.

Confer the explanatory notes to Section 40 of The Gambling Act, defining a betting shop.

What is a land-based casino?

A land-based casino is defined as a place which provides gambling in accordance with a licence granted after Section 14 of The Gambling Act 

Gambling shops without staff

The Danish Gambling Authority has been asked whether betting shops without present staff during all opening hours may be established.
The Danish Gambling Authority assesses that in order to ensure a professional running of a betting shop, staff must be present during opening hours.

Furthermore, The Danish Gambling Authority assesses that staff from other shops or shop units may not man the betting shop. This is important in order to make the betting shop appear as an individual shop unit and in order to secure that gambling is provided in a completely safe and professional manner 

Section 29 of The Gambling Act states that a licence to gambling can only be granted to applicants that are assumed to be able to carry out gambling activities in a sound financial and professional manner.

Other questions

Intermixture of land-based and online offers

Since cash deposits may not be placed on online gambling accounts, the deposits of a player’s accounts in correlation with land-based and online gambling must not be intermixed.
The payment of an amount via terminal to a player’s online gambling account is not allowed. In other words, a player may not deposit an amount on e.g. a customer card or a voucher and subsequently deposit the money on his online gambling account.
Section 8, sub-paragraph 2 of the Executive Order on the provision of online betting states that cash deposits are not allowed in online betting.

Amounts may only be deposited on an online gambling account if a player logs on to his online gambling account at the licence holder and the payment is made via an authorised payment service due to Executive Order on methods of payment and electronic money,  confer to Executive Order on the provision of online betting, Section 8, sub-paragraph 1. 

Provision of online betting in gaming machine arcades

No other gambling activities than those of gaming machines may be provided in a gaming machine arcade, including betting. This rule applies, not only to the payment of bets in the gaming machine arcade, but also to e.g. installing a betting terminal in a gaming machine arcade and allowing the payment of bets to take place in an adjacent room.

Confer Section 20 of the Gambling Act that no other games nor industry may take place in a gaming machine arcade.

Provision of online gambling via terminal

Gambling provided via a physical terminal is categorised as land-based gaming. Thus, if the terminal offers casino games where the gambler must be there in person in order to gamble this is considered as provision of land-based gambling. Such a provision via a terminal requires a licence for land-based casinos.

Confer to Section 5, paragraph 9 of The Gambling Act that where a player meets physically with a gambling operator or the gambling operator’s distributor, this categorises as land-based gambling.

Reporting of games

Licensees who provide land-based betting must be aware of the following: The reporting of game data distinguishes between bets sold from self-service terminals and bets sold from terminals with staff.

The licencee must report which sales channel has been used, when reporting in the data structure. This applies for both fixed odds bets and pool betting

In the case that bets are sold from a self-service terminal,”Self-service” must be reported in the data element sales channel. In the case that bets are bought from the shop staff, the licencee must mark “Distributor”.