The Danish Gambling Authority has blocked 49 websites which it says were offering illegal gambling in the country.

The Copenhagen City Court ruled in favour of the regulator on July 14, with 276 illegal websites blocked since it began cracking down on such offerings in 2012.

Anders Dorph, director of the Danish Gambling Authority, said: “It is a very important task for the Danish Gambling Authority to ensure that Danes are not exposed to gambling that is offered illegally in Denmark and that does not comply with the requirements for consumer protection, among other things, set out in the gambling legislation.

“At the same time, we must ensure that the gambling operators who have a licence to offer gambling in Denmark can operate on the Danish market without unfair competition from providers who do not have to live up to Danish requirements.”

The Danish Gambling Authority said the illegal sites mainly offered traditional casino games such as roulette, gaming machines and poker – with 13 of the websites being skin betting websites.

“We are constantly trying to optimise our efforts against illegal gambling, and one of our latest initiatives is, among other things, to block illegal websites more often than before,” Dorph added.

“This means that the illegal sites are active in Denmark for a shorter period of time, because the sites will be blocked sooner after we have identified them.”