Licences for land-based casinos to be issued

Additionally, The Danish Gambling Authority offers one licence for a land-based casino in North Zealand as of January 1st 2018 and one licence for a land-based casino in Copenhagen as of January 1st 2019, since the existing licences for these two locations expire. 

Accordingly, The Danish Gambling Authority asks all interested parties to submit an application. The application must reach The Danish Gambling Authority no later than February 17th 2017. In case that the submitted application is insufficient, the applicant will be asked to submit the missing documents before an indicated deadline. In case that the applicant fails to meet this deadline, the application will not be considered.
All received applications will be forwarded to the local municipality, the local police commissioner, The Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Ministry of Business . This is done in order to obtain a statement from these  authorities.

Applications may be submitted as encrypted e-mails via the contact form at www.spillemyndigheden.dk or via e-mail: mail@spillemyndigheden.dk

The application may also be submitted by surface mail to the following address:
The Danish Gambling Authority / Spillemyndigheden 
Englandsgade 25, 6. sal
DK - 5000 Odense C 

Inquiries regarding the above may be addressed to chief adviser Nanna Vahl, telephone +45 72 38 11 25 or via e-mail: nv@spillemyndigheden.dk(link sends e-mail) (link sends e-mail). Inquiries may also be addressed to legal officer Stella Lønsmann, telephone +45 72 37 34 19 or via e-mail: slo@spillemyndigheden.dk(link sends e-mail) (link sends e-mail).

Background

Confer to the Act on Gambling, section14(1) The Danish Gambling Authority may grant licence to establishment and operating of land-based casinos. A licence may be granted for up to 10 years at a time, confer to section 14(2). Currently, licences have been granted to seven land-based casinos. These casinos are situated in Copenhagen, Elsinore, Odense, Vejle, Aarhus, Aalborg and aboard the ferry Pearl Seaways DFDS, which is in service betweenCopenhagen and Oslo.
When deciding whether a licence may be granted, great emphasis is placed on the fact that the applicant will operate the land-based casino in a sound and professional manner.

Criteria

When assessing the applications, The Danish Gambling Authority will particularly emphasise the following:

• Sound professional manner, including whether the applicant has experience as a gambling operator or in other ways is qualified to operate a land-based casino.
• Sound financial manner, including whether the applicant’s cash position is sufficient. This is important since operating a land-based casino involves significant expenses.
• The requirements for applicants confer to The Act on Gambling section 26.
• The requirements for the company and members of the board of management and the board of directors confer to The Act on Gambling section 28.
• Geographic considerations.
• Customer base.
• A detailed project description of the casino.
• Public order, size and location.

Consequently, the following information must appear from the application:

• Name and address of the applicant.
• Name and address of managers and board members.
• In case that the applicant is established outside the EU or EEA, the contact information of a representative is mandatory.
• Documentation of the establishing of the company.
• Ownership, including an overview of the company structure and organisation chart of the group.
• A description of procurement of capital and documentation for this.
• The latest annual accounts of the company.
• The applicant’s consent to retrieval of information, including criminal records, records of debt etc.
• The consent to retrieval of information from each member of the direction and each board member.
• The address and location conditions of the casino. This includes an indication of whether the application applies to one of the three licences, which do not have geographic specifications, or to one of the expired licences, which have a specific location and start date.
• Overall plans for the casino’s decor and equipment, including which types of games and the required number of tables and gaming machines.
• The expected number of employees, including information about their educational background.
• Information about associated business, if this is the case(restaurant, bar, etc.).
• Information about previous experience with provision of gambling , knowledge of operating a casino, existing licences, access to know-how, co-operation etc.
• Financial preconditions, including annual reports and accounting figures, including the company’s equity, profit and credit facility. In addition to this, a budget for operating, facilitating and investing in the casino, along with a customer base description.