Denmark gambling bill: a whistle-to-whistle ad ban for 2027

Will Denmark's licensed operators still be able to buy the minutes around a live match in 2027? The bill tabled on October 7, 2026 would ban gambling advertising from 10 minutes before a live sports transmission until 10 minutes after it ends, with those marketing rules taking effect on July 1, 2027.

The Denmark gambling advertising ban in this text is a timed blackout, not a bar on every commercial. Minister for Taxation and Growth Jakob Engel-Schmidt laid bill L 37 before the Folketing as a re-submission of L 127, to implement Spilpakke 1, the agreement of October 24, 2025. iGaming Business reported the tabling on October 9, 2026. The act would enter into force on January 1, 2027 and land-based rules on October 1, 2027, with a first reading listed for October 22, 2026. It binds operators, broadcasters and affiliates, and the aim is to keep advertising away from children.

The 10-minute window, and what it leaves open

A rewritten section 36 forbids marketing from 10 minutes before a live sports transmission until 10 minutes after it ends, and only on the channel or platform carrying the event. Flow television, streaming, interval breaks, on-screen live odds and live odds at the ground are covered. Shirt sponsorship and fixed banners are not.

Build-up shows stay open until 10 minutes before the start, and a delayed feed is still treated as live while the event is played. The filing does not support reading the clause as a full advertising blackout.

Age limits and the duty to step in

Advertisements may not target anyone under 18 or use anyone under 25, nor use "authorities", a term the remarks extend to influencers and partners. The advertiser can be punished, not only the licence holder. Public transport is barred, as is public space within 200 metres of a school or youth institution, measured from the outer plot line. A stadium's interior can still carry an ad. Its outside wall cannot.

Licence holders, apart from small charitable lotteries, must watch play and act when harm shows. Third-party pay may not track turnover, winnings or losses. Free-play welcome offers would be banned by ministerial rules, not in the act itself.

"In all the proposals that are made, there’s no link to any evidence that this is something that will help gambling addiction. And I am pretty sure that it won’t," said Morten Rønde, managing partner at Nordic Legal, of the proposals in the package. (iGaming Business)

What Spillemyndigheden could fine and block

Spillemyndigheden could issue a fine notice without a trial if the person admits the breach and pays by a deadline. Offering gambling in Denmark without a licence can draw a fine or up to six months in prison, or one year if the case is aggravated. Marketing unlicensed gambling is a fine offence by itself.

Blocking would reach intermediary sites aimed at Denmark, and steering players to unlicensed gambling would be barred even when the product is not aimed at the Danish market. Online fines are presumed to scale with gross gaming revenue, and a breach that sets aside protection of young or vulnerable people is presumed to draw the higher step. Britain's consultation on a criminal ban for unlicensed gambling sponsorship is a different statute.

On showing identification, inspectors could enter suspected pyramid-scheme premises without a court order. That power is narrow.

Where the ministry thinks the revenue goes

Table 3.1 puts the immediate effect of the live-sport ban at zero. The loss, about DKK 15 million in 2027 and about DKK 25 million a year from 2028, appears only after behaviour and budget feedback are counted, and the notes say part of the spend leaks to untaxed unlicensed play.

Operators are expected to move a large share of the banned spots into other hours, which the ministry calls less effective. The Denmark gambling advertising ban, on these figures, relocates commercials. It does not erase the trade.

No fresh public consultation was held on the re-submission. The hearing on the earlier draft ran from December 5, 2025 to January 5, 2026.

Passage is still a vote away. For a different country's advertising bill, see our report on Australia's package and its Senate inquiry, which is not this statute and does not fix the Danish dates.

This article is informational analysis only and is not gambling or financial advice. Figures are as attributed in the text.

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