Danes love a bit of banco, but best to keep it small (photo: Flying Tiger Copenhagen)

Until the end of 2011, Danske Spil held a monopoly on all gambling and gaming activities outside casinos and kiosks in Denmark.

Since then, operators have been required to obtain a licence to offer gaming and betting, although certain gambling-related activities are permitted – a lottery, raffle or game of bingo for an association fundraiser, for example.

There are strict rules, though: individual prizes cannot exceed 5,000 kroner, no more than 100,000 kroner can be exchanged in a single day, and entry to the games should be restricted to association members. 

Since 2019, the Gambling Authority has reported 38 associations for breaching the rules – leading to the payment of some pretty big fines.

Regardless of the charitable intention
The latest organisation to fall on the wrong side of the authority is Byens Bedste Banko in Copenhagen, which donates all of its profits to the children’s department at Rigshospitalet.

It has been fined 15,000 kroner by Copenhagen City Council, had 5 million confiscated and been ordered to pay the legal costs.

The court rules that no association should be set up to run lottery games as its main purpose – regardless of the charitable intention.

Court rules in favour of sports stars
In other gambling-related news, meanwhile, 23 of the country’s sports stars have successfully obtained 4.75 million kroner in compensation from the bookmaker Bet365 for capitalising on the use of their images and names.

The payout is just 50,000 kroner lower than the one requested in early March. The Maritime and Commercial Court agreed that the bookmaker had violated the players’ rights to their name and image by using them in marketing, as opposed to editorial content.

Footballer Christian Eriksen, a huge international name since his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020 in June 2021, received the biggest payout (1.45 million) followed by team-mate Kasper Schmeichel (500,000).

The payout valued each social media post using the sport stars’ images at 50,000 kroner each. Handballer Mikkel Hansen had asked for 75,000 kroner for each of his posts, but the court turned this down.