Poll results: Readers split on Danish model for monopolies
No clear consensus on whether the success of the Danish market demonstrates how former monopolies can thrive in a regulated market.
eGaming Review readers remain divided as to whether the Danish market is the blueprint proves monopolies can sustain their business in a liberalised market, despite Danske Spil’s strong financial performance in the first full year under dot.dk regulation.
With more than DKK2bn (£230m) in revenue generated by licensees in the full-year 2012, and with Danske Spil posting a 13.8% growth in profits during the same period, 41% of respondents believe the Danish Gambling Authority has succeeded in allowing all operators a fair chance to compete. The DGA has also claimed that illegal operators have a hold of less than 5% of the egaming market, thanks in part to a ‘whistleblower’ service allowing users to report illegal sites, as well as 12 unlicensed sites being blocked in June.
However, the same proportion of those polled argue that with the market only opening on 1 January 2012, it is too soon to tell whether the success so far will be replicated over a longer period of time. It should also be noted that out of the 58 licences issued to the 39 licensees, just 13 brought in GGR of more than DKK25m during the year, while 27 of the 58 saw revenues come in below DKK5m.
The remaining 18% suggest believe that a liberalised market including a former monopoly as run by the DGA is a scenario not guaranteed to work in other jurisdictions.
Nevertheless, the online gaming market in Denmark has not seen the same issues raised in other European jurisdictions, such as France, Greece and Spain, where fears and complaints of uncompetitive markets have emerged.
In France, Betclic has filed a complaint with the French Competition Authority over Pari-Mutuel Urbain’s dominance of the horse racing sector, while nine licensees returned their licences in 2012.
In Greece, the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) warned the Greek government that its plans to extend OPAP’s land-based monopoly to online gaming products would breach EU law, and in Spain, eGR has learned that operators are planning to hand back their online poker licences, with one licensee describing dot.es network poker as “finished”.