New Director of the Danish Gambling Authority
15, Apr 2020
On 15 April, the Danish Gambling Authority welcomed a new director.
Morten Niels Jakobsen is a graduate of law from the University of Aarhus in 1999, and for five years he has been the State Prosecutor for Special Economic and International Crime (SØIK).
Prior to SØIK, Morten Niels Jakobsen was employed by the Ministry of Justice for several years, where he has worked as both ministerial secretary and Head of Division.
“The first month as director of the Danish Gambling Authority has been both exciting and instructive,” says Morten Niels Jakobsen. “Obviously, it has been a challenging start when I have not been able to meet the management and employees physically, but we hold many online meetings and I have already got a good impression of the Danish Gambling Authority. I have been presented to dedicated and competent employees working to ensure a fair gambling market with a wide range of tasks such as issuing licences and market surveillance as well as the great work of ensuring responsible gambling and protecting the players.”
Responsible gambling and consumer protection are important issues to Morten Niels Jakobsen:
“It is important to always be concerned with finding the right balance in this area. This means that there is a fair gambling market, which is partially liberalised, but that we also look after consumers and that we, together with the industry, ensure that gambling takes place responsibly.”
It goes without saying that Morten Niels Jakobsen due to his background as former head of SØIK, is also concerned with the anti-money laundering agenda:
“It is an important focus for me that the authorities and private players in the field jointly do everything in our power to limit and prevent various types of games from being abused for money laundering purposes.”
