Two weeks after the European Court of Justice upheld a ban on unlicensed online gambling, several operators have filed a complaint against Denmark’s new regulatory law. According to CasinoNewsAuthority.com, the complaint is the result of operators’ charge that the law imposes too high a tax to make operating in Denmark lucrative.
The Folketinget, Denmark’s parliament, passed the law unanimously June 4 with a Jan. 2011 implementation date. This week’s complaint, however, forces legislators to revise the law and resubmit it to the European Commission for approval.
Central to the complaint is the law’s 20 percent tax rate. The complainants say this rate, in addition to the 3 percent tax rate imposed on them in their home jurisdictions, would compromise their viability.
Yet some commentators question the validity of the complaint. The taxes Danish online casinos would have paid, they say, pale in comparison to those that some of Europe’s land based casinos pay; many brick and mortars casinos, they note, must contend with tax rates as high as 70 percent.
As of Sunday, no additional news concerning the complaint was available. However, CasinoNewsAuthority.com said it doubts the revised law will also have a Jan. 2011 implementation date.
Furthermore, the online news source said it expects complications to arise over language in the original law requiring Internet service providers to block unlicensed sites. This language, it said, is tantamount to online censorship, and EU authorities have already requested the clause’s removal.
