As of October 2023, Denmark will require retail bettors to have player ID cards, SBC News reported September 25.
Licensed operators are free to design and implement the new player IDs, including whether the IDs are physical or virtual, i.e. as part of an app.
The purpose, says the Spillemyndigheden, Danish Gambling Authority (DGA), is to increase consumer protection and make it harder for minors to enter betting shops.
The cards also allow players to set deposit limits. Consumer advocates hope that the digital record will prevent players from losing winnings if they misplace a betting receipt.
Players who are registered with the country’s self-exclusion list after October 1 will be prevented from playing at retail casinos.
The proposal was first floated in 2019 and then agreed to again in 2021 by all of Denmark’s political parties. The additional hope is that the IDs will discourage money laundering and match fixing.
Fighting match fixing is the announced top priority of the DGA, and ending the ability to gamble anonymously is the tool.
According to SBC News, then-Minister of Taxation Morten Bødskov said in 2021: “We are thus putting a stick in the wheel of the criminals who use this type of game as a means of, for example, laundering money. With the playing card, players must register, no matter how small amounts they play for, and data about their games are analyzed and reported to the authorities if it seems suspicious.”
