Entain’s Bwin Fined in Denmark over Misleading Promotion

Entain’s Bwin brand has been fined in Denmark over a gambling campaign that promised customers “risk-free” bets. In addition to being potentially harmful, the campaign was misleading since the purported risk-free bets were not really risk-free.  

There Were Some Strings Attached

The $77.2K fine was handed to Entain’s local subsidiary, ElectraWorks Limited, after a marketing campaign promised customers “risk-free” bets. The campaign was associated with a promotion that allowed players to place wagers of up to DKK 500 ($77) or DKK 1,000 ($154) “risk-free.”

However, the reality was that players were not actually refunded, but received their lost bet in the form of a free betting token. To top it all off, if wagers placed with the free betting tokens did end up winning, only the net difference would be paid out, rather than the full sum.

This is exactly what happened to a customer, who placed a DKK 1,000 bet on bwin.dk, lost, and received a free bet. After spending the free bet, he ended up winning, but the payout stood at only DKK 15 ($2.32).

A complaint was then submitted in court, with ElectraWorks eventually pleading guilty.

The Company Pleaded Guilty and Was Fined

The initial fine stood at DKK 1 million due to the severity of the violation and the fact that such promotions ran for several years and targeted potentially vulnerable groups. However, the penalty was eventually halved to DKK 500,000 ($77.2K) due to a variety of delays.

The fine was based on the money ElectraWorks spent on the campaign.

In the meantime, consumer ombudsman Torben Jensen emphasized that when gambling companies say that they offer a risk-free gamble, it should be truly risk-free and not expose customers to any financial risk.

As a result, it can be said that ElectraWorks’ campaign was clearly misleading, since players did, in fact, risk losing money.