Denmark’s Minister of Finance, Nicolai Wammen, has affirmed that his department supports a merger of state-owned gambling operators Danske Spil and Danske Klasselotteri.
Reporting to Folketing, the Parliament of Denmark, Wammen stated that the merger would ‘create a better strategic framework’ for the state-owned assets and how their charitable contributions are distributed, benefiting Danish society.
Furthermore, the Finance Minister detailed that both companies need a digital makeover to compete with Denmark’s regulated market incumbents.
The Danske Spil and Danske Klasselotteri merger has the majority support of Folketing, with the mandate backed by the ruling Social Democrats.
Danske Spil’s ownership is split three ways between the government, which owns a majority stake, Denmark’s Olympic Committee (DIC) and National Gymnastics and Sports Association (DIG).
The Ministry of Finance will begin work with Danske Spil and Danske Klasselotteri to prepare a ‘concrete proposal’ for how the state-owned business would be merged, including a ‘new business model’.
In 2017, Danish MPs rejected a mandate by Venstre, Denmark’s Conservative Liberal Party to sell all state interests in Danske Spil as a mandatory condition for the government to reform Denmark’s Gambling Act in 2018.
Danske Spil CEO, Nikolas Lyhne-Knudsen, stated that he would work with the Ministry of Finance ‘to realise the benefits of a creating a single unified state gambling company’.