Denmark Retables a Whistle-to-Whistle Gambling Ad Ban That Would Also End Affiliate Revenue Share

Denmark's government has put its lapsed gambling advertising bill back before the Folketing, with a 10-minute buffer around every live sports broadcast and new limits on who may appear in gambling ads. The clause with the most commercial bite is quieter: affiliates could no longer be paid on players' turnover or losses.

• Denmark's Minister for Taxation and Growth, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, tabled bill L 37 on 7 October, a re-run with minor adjustments of the Spilpakke 1 gambling bill that lapsed when the general election was called in March
• The bill would ban gambling ads on the channel or stream carrying live sport from 10 minutes before the start until 10 minutes after the end, including breaks and on-screen live odds, while stadium banners and shirt sponsorship stay permitted
• Ads would be banned on public transport and within 200 metres of schools, and could not feature people under 25 or "authorities" such as athletes and influencers with more than 10,000 followers
• Affiliates could no longer be paid on players' turnover or losses, and Spillemyndigheden could block Danish-facing sites that steer players offshore, extending a regime that took in Polymarket in August
• The marketing rules would apply from 1 July 2027, and the ministry expects the live sport ban to cost the state about DKK 25 million a year

Denmark Tries Again With the Gambling Bill the Election Killed

Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Denmark's Minister for Taxation and Growth, tabled bill L 37 in the Folketing on 7 October, according to the bill and the Folketing's case record. Its explanatory notes describe it as a re-tabling, with minor adjustments, of bill L 127, which then Tax Minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen tabled on 25 February and which lapsed when the election was called in early March. Both implement Spilpakke 1, the package agreed on 24 October 2025 by the then government of the Social Democrats, Venstre and the Moderates with seven other parties. SBC News, which first reported the re-tabling, says the first reading is set for 22 October; the Folketing had not published that sitting's agenda at the time of writing.

The headline measure is an extended whistle-to-whistle ban: no gambling advertising from 10 minutes before a live sports transmission until 10 minutes after the event ends, on TV and streaming alike, including half-time breaks and on-screen live odds. It applies only to the channel carrying the sport; the notes say gambling could still be advertised on TV2 Charlie while a match is live on TV2 Sport. Stadium banners and shirt sponsorship stay outside it, but live odds displayed at the venue would be banned during play.

The bill also rewrites section 36 of the Gambling Act. Marketing must still present gambling as entertainment, as the current law requires, and may not target or particularly appeal to under-18s. New limits bar ads that present gambling as a priority, a lifestyle or part of a community, ads using "authorities", and ads featuring anyone under 25. Authorities include current and former professional athletes, actors and anyone with more than 10,000 followers or 100,000 accumulated views, according to the notes.

Gambling marketing would be banned in and around public transport, and in public spaces within 200 metres of schools and youth education institutions. The inside of stadiums and shops within the zone does not count as public space.

What the Bill Does to Affiliates, Influencers and Unlicensed Sites

Today only the licensee can be prosecuted for breaching the marketing rules. The bill extends liability to anyone, so influencers and affiliates could be fined directly. A new section 36(3) would ban paying third parties on players' turnover, winnings or losses, covering existing contracts for activity after the effective date, while payment per referred visitor would remain lawful, according to the notes. The notes also say the ministry intends to ban free bets and free spins as welcome offers by executive order.

Almost all licensees would carry a statutory duty to monitor players and act at once on signs of problem gambling. Fines for online breaches would be scaled to gross gaming revenue; for intentional breaches of certain land-based rules the notes set DKK 60,000 (approximately $9,000) for a first offence and DKK 80,000 (approximately $12,000) for a second, with the licence revoked on a third. The Danish Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden, could block Danish-facing sites that direct players to unlicensed operators.

The law would enter into force on 1 January 2027, but the marketing and duty-of-care provisions take effect on 1 July 2027, six months later than the lapsed version had set.

The Affiliate Clause Matters More Than the Whistle

The whistle ban will draw the attention, but the ministry's own assessment says it will reduce the volume of gambling marketing only to a limited extent, because operators are expected to move much of that spend to other times. The revenue-share ban changes the economics of a whole channel. Revenue share ties an affiliate's income to how much its referrals lose, and Denmark proposes to outlaw it, including in contracts already signed. Affiliates would be pushed towards per-click or flat fees, which pay the same whether a player loses heavily or not at all. That is the point of the clause, and it gives other regulators a working template.

The Ministry Has Already Priced In Some Leakage

The bill is unusually candid about channelisation. Its notes expect lower spending on regulated gambling, with part of it moving to the unregulated, untaxed market, and put the cost of the live sport ban at about DKK 25 million (approximately $3.7 million) a year. Wider blocking powers and liability for anyone promoting unlicensed brands are the government's answer to that risk. The industry association Spillebranchen argued in 2024 for a cap of three gambling ads per break instead, saying an earlier attempt to agree limits with broadcasters had been judged contrary to competition law. A statute avoids that problem.

Denmark Lands Between Britain and the Netherlands

Britain's whistle-to-whistle ban is voluntary, set by Betting and Gaming Council members in August 2019, with a five-minute buffer that applies only before the 9pm watershed. Spain confines broadcast gambling ads to between 1am and 5am, a rule its media regulator still enforces. The Netherlands banned untargeted gambling advertising in July 2023 and sports sponsorship from July 2025. Denmark's version is statutory, doubles the British buffer and has no watershed, but leaves shirt and stadium sponsorship intact. Its under-25 rule mirrors one Britain's advertising code already enforces, where a Lords committee has called a comprehensive ban the most effective policy.

Denmark's new government has put the package straight back before parliament, and it reaches further into the affiliate model than most European rules. Whether it works will depend less on the 20 minutes around each match than on how much play the ministry's own forecast sends offshore.