Danish Gambling Authority makes major changes to responsible gaming regulations
The Danish Gambling Authority – Spillemyndigheden – recently announced that it had made amendments to three sections of the guide on responsible gambling. The amended sections include the Register of Voluntarily Excluded Players (ROFUS), information about betting deposit limits, and the revoking of certain bonus offer schemes.
Denmark has ramped up its protection for especially those players who have already managed to exclude themselves from gambling. ©John Erfurt/Unsplash
The changes in the Danish Gambling Authority’s guide on responsible gambling can be seen in Sections 2, 3, and 5. Amendments in section 2 are about ROFUS, the national self-exclusion program, and how players can register themselves to avoid major losses. Section 3 amendments comprise information about deposit limits for all players. Section 5 amendments remove bonuses offered to players who reactivate their accounts after a brief period of inactivity.
Problem gambling monitoring and interface get updates
Section 2 of the Danish Gambling Authority’s guide on responsible gambling revolves around general information about responsible gambling. In this section, the Authority has asked all licensed operators to be responsible and monitor every player’s gambling deposits, thereby disallowing players with harmful gambling traits from overspending and losing a hefty chunk or all of their money. Apart from that, the Authority has also revamped the ROFUS website, where players with gambling problems can register themselves under one of three different categories. Depending on the severity of a player’s gambling problem, ROFUS has given its citizens three options.
Players who only want a temporary break can opt for a gambling break that disallows them from gambling for 24 hours. The second option is the temporary exclusion, in which players can pick for how many months they wish to be inactive. The final option is for the players with the most severe harmful gambling addiction, and involves permanent exclusion. The permanent exclusion on ROFUS can be revoked by the player, but it can only happen after a formal request to the Authority after a period of one year and seven days.
Players to set their own limits
In section 3 of the Danish Gambling Authority’s guide on responsible gambling, the Danish regulator has updated information about imposing deposit limits in online gambling. Information around the same subject has also been updated for land-based casinos. They have been asked to keep track of players for gambling habits, and not to advertise and market their services and offers to players registered on ROFUS. To further strengthen the cause of promoting responsible gambling, the regulator has asked operators to enable players to set daily, weekly, or monthly deposit limits. The licensed operators cannot determine these limits, and they should only be set by the players themselves.
These limits are to be adhered to strictly but can be changed. However, the player has to wait for a minimum of 24 hours before they want to increase the limit. These limits keep track of deposits made into the player’s linked gambling account, and therefore have no bearing on stake limits during gameplay.
The Amendment to Section 5
Section 5 of the Danish Gambling Authority’s guide on responsible gambling states that all licensed operators should actively and passively play their part in promoting responsible gambling by intervening against players that show traits or patterns of harmful gambling. The Authority has asked all operators to monitor the players who are already victims of harmful gambling and also keep a sharp eye out for players who are vulnerable or showing early signs of compulsive gambling.
Quite a few licensed operators were offering lucrative bonuses to players whose accounts were inactive for a brief period with the intention of luring these players back into the game. The Authority has now asked operators to remove these bonuses and specified that no player’s activity should be a criterion for a bonus in online gambling. In addition to that, all licensed operators have been requested to keep a keen eye on players who are demanding such bonuses because that might be a trait of problematic gambling where a player desires to gamble but cannot afford to.
