Bwin fined over misleading claim of “risk-free gambling” in Denmark
The Copenhagen City Court ruled that an advert amounted to illegal marketing.
Denmark.- Entain’s Danish-facing sportsbook domain, bwin.dk, has been penalised for breaching national marketing regulations. The Copenhagen City Court imposed a fine of DKK 500,000 (around €65,800) after Denmark’s Consumer Ombudsman lodged a complaint against ElectraWorks, the operator of the site.
At the centre of the case was a promotional campaign plugging “Risk-Free Gambling”. The claim led the Ombudsman to contact the police back in 2024 following a consumer complaint.
A Bwin advertisement used the phrase “risk-free gambling up to 1,000 DKK”. A customer who acted on the offer placed and lost a DKK 1,000 bet. He then received a free bet of the same value, won his second wager, but was paid out only DKK 15. The consumer argued that the campaign was misleading, as he ended up financially worse off despite the “risk-free” claim.
Consumer Ombudsman Torben Jensen stressed: “When a gambling company markets itself as allowing consumers to gamble ‘risk-free’, it goes without saying that they should not be exposed to any financial risk in placing a bet. It is therefore important to emphasise that it is undoubtedly misleading to market a game as being ‘risk-free’ if it is not in fact the case that the consumer does not risk losing money.”
The court ruled that the campaign amounted to illegal marketing under the Marketing Practices Act, which prohibits advertising that misleads or could reasonably be expected to mislead consumers.
This ruling comes amid moves to introduce tighter rules for gambling advertising in Denmark, including a whistle-to-whistle ban during sports broadcasts.
