Kiel Gaming Act gets support from Denmark and from the Liberal Party – Social Democratic Party (SPD) continues its collision course with Brussels
![](https://www.gaminglaw.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2579-250x125.jpg)
By Dr. Wulf Hambach
Copenhagen/Kiel, in October 2011 – Flashback: 17 December 2010 was a cold pre-Christmas day – whilst outside an icy wind blew around the Kiel parliament building, the conservative-liberal coalition government engaged in a heated debate with the social democrats in the plenary hall. The agitated discussion was triggered during the first reading of the Kiel model act, which is based on the Danish model for the regulation of gaming. It was this path-finding look towards the north which the fathers of the Kiel draft, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) economics expert Hans-Jörn Arp and FPD chief strategist Wolfgang Kubicki, were accused of by the SPD. The criticism in the Kiel parliament was that they had bet on a dead horse. The reason: In autumn 2010, the EU Commission had admitted for examination an EU state aid complaint due to the low taxation of online games in comparison to terrestrial games. In this context, the Danish reform project, which had obtained international praise, initially got caught in the web of the terrestrial casino lobby. … Continue Reading