Newsletter 32

24 Nov 2016

The conditions for the licencees' use of promotional games on lottery

24 November 2016

The Danish Gambling Authority removed its guidance on sales promotion measures on 18 May 2015 from the Authority’s website. In that connection, the The Danish Gambling Authority changed its practice on the license holders’ use of sales promotion measures in the form of games or lotteries, which are not part of the license holders’ license.

Thus, there is no general prohibition on organising promotional games or lottery.
Below, the points of importance when assessing whether the game demands a licence according to the Act on Gambling or whether the game may be offered as promotional game or lottery.

Definition of promotional games or lottery

The gambling operators have the opportunity to take sales promotion measures in the form of games not covered by their licence, for instance a draw or another form of game decided solely by chance. An example on this is a gambling operator with an online casino licence, who makes a draw or a lottery.

When holding a promotional game or lottery, purchase of a good or a service may be required before the release of the game or lottery. Examples are purchase of a bet, fee for participating in a poker tournament or purchase of gaming machine spins.
Thus, it is decisive that the purchase is of a good or a service, and that there is no higher price for the item or service than if these were not part of a promotional game or lottery.

The overall price must appear clearly and the game operator may not try to cover the expenses for promotional games or lottery by deterioration of the quality or the combination of the items or services which must be paid for. Nor must the price of the goods or services be raised.

It must not be a matter of ”paying seperately for participation in the game” or ”a seperate  economic contribution – in addition to the purchase of the item or the service -  in order to participate in the game.”

It is a condition to hold promotional game or lottery, that it is a time-limited offer and that the gambler is informed about the duration of the offer.
In each case a concrete assesment will determine whether a promotional game or lottery is a time-limited offer or is offered as an integrated part of the operator’s games which demand a licence according to the Act on Gambling. If the game is offered without a time-limit or is held over a longer, uniterrupted period of time, it is more likely to be an integrated promotional game or lottery.