程阳：2014年丹麦(娱乐场)赌场业综述

 
 【中文原文全文】  Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people)
 

Casino Aalborg

Royal Casino (Aarhus)

Casino Copenhagen

Casino Marienlyst (Helsingør)

Casino Odense

Casino Vejle (Casino Munkebjerg Vejle)

 

 Gross gaming revenues at Denmark’s six casinos slipped backwards by 1.6 percent from €57m to €56m between 2012 and 2013, as visits by players declined by 4.4 percent from 430,000 in 2012 to 412,000 in 2013.

 

Revenues from table games again remained flat during 2013 bringing in €31m, but slots win dropped back by 6.6 percent, surrendering gains made in the previous year.

 

Gaming tax paid to the Danish state remained flat at €26m.

 

Although online licensing for sports betting and online casino games including poker came into effect on January 1, 2012, casino revenues were largely unaffected.

 

Denmark’s land-based casino and machine operators pay tax at markedly different rates to the country’s newly licensed online operators. Online firms pay tax at 20 percent compared with the 45/75 percent levied on land-based operators, an arrangement backed by the European Commission in 2011 which found that the different tax rates were justifiable to encourage online operators to move within the regulated market.

 

A long-running legal appeal, made to the European Courts by Denmark’s machine operators, has failed to overturn the differential tax bias. In September 2014 the courts found that land-based operators had failed to show a “substantial adverse effect” from the tax rates.

 

The online division of the former Danish monopoly Danske Licens Spil still dominates the licensed online market in Denmark, holding what is believed to be a more than 50 percent market share.

 

 

 Regulator

 

Denmark’s gambling regulator is the Danish Gambling Authority. Land-based casino licences are granted for a period of ten years.

 

The Act on Gambling of 2010 partially liberalised the Danish gambling market, which officially opened on January 1, 2012. As of July 2013, 53 licences have been granted to 40 operators. Danske Spil still holds a monopoly licence to provide lottery games.

 

The executive order on land-based casinos sets out restrictions on the size of the stakes for each game. A player may not bet less than DKK5 or more than DKK50,000, except for games on gaming machines, on which a player may not bet less than DKK1 or more than DKK20.

 

Each casino has the obligation to set minimum and maximum bets for each game, which must be posted at each game table.

 

In 2012, requirements previously seen in the Gaming Act were added to the executive order, regarding exchange of gaming tokens and use of cash in the casinos, as well as requirements on gaming technology equipment, the tronc, annual accounts and audit and control issues.

 

Denmark’s Licensed Casino Market

 

There are currently six casinos in Denmark and one licensed onboard ship casino.

 

Casinos in Denmark are regulated by the Act on Gambling and the Executive Order on Land-Based Casinos.

 

According to the Act on Gambling, casinos may offer the following games: roulette, baccarat, punto banco, blackjack, poker and gaming machines offering cash winnings.

 

 

Poker

 

According to the Act on Public Gambling in Tournaments, a licence to organise public gambling in tournaments can be obtained by application to the Danish Gambling Authority.

 

 

Contributions to Society

 

Information not available at the time of this report.

 

Social Responsibility Measures

 

In Denmark national legislation requires all customers, both online and in land-based venues, to be at least 18 years of age.

 

A smoking ban has been in force in public areas in Denmark since 2007, although designated smoking areas are permitted.

 

Problem Gambling Prevention Policies

 

Denmark’s casinos are subject to stringent requirements relating to the registration of customers, including video registration, and for the storing of data. Every guest must provide identification on request and every casino must record information about every arriving guest’s name, address, and date of birth, nationality and an indication of each guest’s arrival time. The casino must store this information for five years.

 

Casino staff are subject to additional requirements and may not participate in games at the property.

 

The Danish Gambling Authority is in charge of supervising the machine market as a whole.

 

For online gambling, a Register of Voluntary Excluded Players (ROFUS) has been established.

 

 

Players can directly register themselves on the system and once registered they cannot cancel it. Online operators are obliged to verify whether a player is registered on this self-exclusion system.

 

Temporary exclusions are also possible and cannot be for less than one month or more than six months. Players can also choose a shorter break of 24 hours, dubbed the cooling-off period.

 

Taxation

 

Casinos are subject to a tax of 45 percent of revenues up to DKK4m and 75 percent for any portion of revenues above this amount.

 

A new regulatory regime for online gambling came into force in Denmark on January 1, 2012, putting in place a licensing system for sports betting and online casino games including poker. The new gambling law partially dismantled Danske Spil’s exclusive rights regime that applied to sports betting, although the state-controlled company maintains its monopoly over national lottery products and bingo.

 

Following a complaint from a land-based casino and slot machine operators, the European Commission opened an indepth investigation regarding the taxation system applied to online and retail gambling in this new piece of legislation, which delayed the opening of the market in Denmark.

 

In a decision concluded on September 20, 2011 the commission found that the Danish government was, in effect, providing online operators with state aid by allowing them to be taxed at 20 percent of gaming revenues, in comparison with a 75 percent rate for the land-based sector.

 

However, the Danish tax ministry was successfully able to argue that rate was necessary to ensure that online operators would move operations to the regulated market and combat illegal offerings.

 

 

The case was appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union, by Denmark’s machine operators, but in a longawaited decision handed down on September 26th 2014, the court concluded that Royal Scandinavian Casino Aarhus and the Danish Gaming Association (DAB) had failed to show a “substantial adverse effect” from the tax differentials.

 

A further appeal, on points of law, is being considered.

 

VLTs and Slot Machines

 

State-controlled operator Danske Spil conducts its gaming machine operations through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Danske Automat Spil. In 2011, Danske Automat Spil merged with the company Elite Gaming A/S.

 

There are also a significant number of private operators in the Danish slot machine market, most of whom are members of the industry association Danske Automat Brancheforening (DAB) and slot machines outside a casino, typically amusements with prizes (AWPs), in Denmark are also governed by the Act on Gambling.

 

As of January 1, 2012, slot machine operators pay the following taxes:

 

Restaurants:

• 41 percent of monthly gross revenues up to DKK30,000.

• 71 percent for the portion of monthly gross revenues above DKK30,000.

 

 

“The slot machine industry here in Denmark will be smaller as a result of the new online market, there is no doubt about it,” said Knud Larsen, director of Dansk Automat Brancheforening (DAB)

 

 Arcades:

• 41 percent of monthly gross gaming revenues up to DKK250,000.

• 71 percent of gross revenues over DKK250,000.

 

In addition, there is a fee of DKK600 per machine per year.

 

Remote Gambling

 

Along with Italy, Finland and the UK, Denmark is one of a small group of countries in Europe where online casinos have been licensed and legalised.

 

As of April 2014, 43 online licences had been granted to 30 operators, but the online arm of the former monopoly Danske Licens Spil is still the most significant online and offline operator in Denmark for sports betting and online poker and casino games.

 

Danske Licens Spil’s gross gaming revenues grew 8 percent in 2013, amounting to GGR of DKK1.3bn (€174m) for its betting product. Oddset was the highest ever and was the most popular game in 2013 along with the Eurojackpot lottery.

 

Currently a tax of 20 percent of GGR applies to online operators and a much higher tax rate of 75 percent applies to landbased operators, a tax differential which has been the cause of significant dispute between operators and the government.

 

The Danish Gambling Authority is in the process of reviewing the Act on Gambling, with only cosmetic changes to the taxation system applying to online operators expected at this stage.