ElectraWorks Limited, a subsidiary of Entain in Denmark, has been fined 500,000 DKK which is approximately 67 000 in a court judgment over its marketing campaign that misled customers. Copenhagen City Court made this ruling and it is related to the advertising on the Danish betting site bwin.dk.
The major point of contention in the case was the firm’s advertising phrase “risk-free” which the authorities deemed to be a misleading portrayal of the actual conditions of the offers.
Consumer Ombudsman Torben Jensen said:
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 by placing a bet. It is therefore important for me to emphasize that it is undoubtedly misleading to market itself as a game being ‘risk-free’ if it is not in fact the case that the consumer does not risk losing money.
The advertising campaigns that were launched from October 2020 to December 2022 mainly looked like “Risk-free play up to DKK 1,000” and “Risk-free play up to DKK 500” type slogans. But the court found that if the customers lost their first bets, then only free bet tokens were given to them. And if the free bet was winning, then the users were given only the net winnings and not the entire stake.
This issue came to light due to a customer complaint. The customer wagered DKK 1,000 on bwin.dk, lost the bet, and was then given a free bet for the same amount. The second bet won, but the payout was only DKK 15, which clearly shows the discrepancy between the advertising promise and the real result.
ElectraWorks admitted to the crime during the session. The Consumer Ombudsman referred the issue to police in May 2024 following the investigation of the grievance. Initially, the court ordered a fine of DKK 1m and observed that not only the advertising campaign had been going on for quite a long time but it was also directed at young audiences and new players.
The punishment was later reduced by one-half due to the delay in the prosecution of the matter. Moreover, the authorities also pointed out that the final figure was based on two times the company’s revealed marketing cost for the campaign, thereby highlighting the gravity with which they consider the advertising which may mislead in the gambling sector.
