The General Court of the EU issued a ruling at first instance in the Danish State aid case (T-601/11 Dansk Automat Brancheforening v. Commission & T-615/11 Royal Scandinavian Casino Århus v Commission) and upheld the European Commission’s decision, confirming that the Danish regime instituting a lower tax for online gambling…

London/Munich/Copenhagen, November 4, 2009 – Currently, the French liberalisation plans are probably getting most of the industry’s attention. But in the background, at times almost neglected, several other countries, such as Denmark, are setting about liberalising large parts of their gambling market. Therefore, the consulting firm MECN and the law firm Horten have joined forces to compile a new report that offers an unprecedented in-depth analysis of Denmark’s gambling market.

Denmark submitted in July a draft law to the European Commission with provisions to end the gambling monopoly and to liberalise the sports betting and online casino game market. After years of uncertainty, still-stand and legal disputes the Danish Government announced in April 2009 plans to end the gambling monopoly held by the State-owned organisation, Danske Spil, and to proceed with plans to liberalise parts of the gambling market…

In the wake of an EU Commission lawsuit against Denmark, the government, with the help of the New Alliance party, is investigating the possibility of allowing international competition on the national gambling circuit. According to New Alliance’s Anders Samuelsen, who will later this week put forth a proposal suggesting the end to Danske Spil’s gaming monopoly, there is no longer any point in protecting something that will be lost anyway, referring to the lawsuit against Denmark by the European Commission.