Danish regulator updates responsible gambling guide

Spillemyndigheden, the Danish Gambling Authority, has published an update to its guide on responsible gambling. Version 1.4 contains information ranging from minor changes to what is already out about responsible gambling, down to specific and major announcements such as the announcement of a ban on the use of reactivation bonuses.

In the guide, the gambling watchdog stated that operators can no longer use bonuses to incentivize lapsed players into reactivating their dormant accounts, as it is an “irresponsible marketing practice”. According to the guide: “A player’s inactivity may not be a selection criterion when awarding promotional offers. Bonuses may therefore not be given on the basis of a player’s inactivity.”

Spillemyndigheden added that operators should be attentive in case a player asks for this kind of bonus. They argue that it means the player cannot afford to play though they want to play.

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The authority also mentioned in the updated guide about new changes to deposit limits. Henceforth, operators must not permit users to set unrealistic and “illusory” deposit limits. According to the regulator, some users set deposit limits to thousands of Danish kroner, essentially negating why deposit limits were introduced in the first place.

In addition, proper user assessment must be conducted by the operator before allowing such a deposit limit to stand. Deposit limits, for the regulator, cannot be changed when winning are withdrawn.

It said: “It must not be possible to choose an extremely high deposit limit, or a deposit limit of a higher amount than the maximum allowed to be paid into the game account,” the guidance said.

“Examples have been seen where players have been able to set deposit limits of several hundreds of thousands of kroner without any assessment being made as to whether this was a realistic deposit limit. In such cases, there is no actual deposit limit, as the limit is set at such an illusory high amount that the deposit limit does not have the intended protective and preventive effect.”

The update to the responsible gambling guide comes after previous amendments in November 2021.