Giveaway, Purchase-Required Contest or Lottery? Denmark's Rules for a Prize Draw

Three different things get called "a contest" or "a prize draw"

When an influencer or brand announces a "contest", the word can cover at least three legally distinct mechanics, and most briefs never distinguish between them. A free giveaway costs the entrant nothing to join — already covered in how to run an influencer giveaway or contest, legally. A purchase-conditional contest requires the entrant to buy a product to be entered into a draw for something extra. A genuine lottery — a lottery in the technical, legal sense — requires the entrant to pay purely for the chance to win, with no other benefit in return. The last two are frequently confused, but they sit under two entirely different rulebooks: a purchase-conditional contest is a marketing-law question, while a genuine lottery is regulated under the Danish Gambling Act (lov om spil) and falls under Spillemyndigheden, Denmark's Gambling Authority.

This is practical guidance from Make Influence, not legal advice. Have the specific setup — and especially any doubt about thresholds or permits — checked by a lawyer or accountant before launching.

The free giveaway: no permit needed, whatever the selection method

If a competition is free to enter, it falls outside the Gambling Act's licensing requirement — regardless of whether the winner is chosen by draw or by judged assessment. That's already covered in full in the sister article, alongside the spam ban on requiring entrants to tag a friend and the Danish prize-tax rules that can apply to a chance-based free giveaway. This article covers the other two models — the ones where the entrant pays something.

The purchase-conditional contest: legal since 2011, but the terms have to be visible

A purchase-conditional contest is when the entrant has to buy a product to take part — for example, "buy a calendar to be entered into a draw for a trip". Per Forbrugerombudsmanden's (the Danish Consumer Ombudsman's) own guidance, businesses are allowed to run this kind of competition in Denmark; the previous ban on tying a competition to a purchase was repealed in 2011. The legal point is that the entrant gets something for their money — the product itself — and is only then entered into a draw for something extra. That's a different transaction from paying a stake purely for the chance to win, which is why it falls outside the Gambling Act's licensing requirement.

The requirement that comes with it is transparency: the purchase requirement has to be disclosed in the same place the competition's other terms are disclosed — not buried in generic subscription terms elsewhere. The usual requirements for any competition still apply on top: age and geographic restrictions, how the winner is chosen, and when and how the prize is delivered, per Forbrugerombudsmanden's general transparency requirements, already covered in the sister article.

The genuine lottery: when does it need a permit from Spillemyndigheden?

It becomes a lottery in the Gambling Act's sense when three conditions are met at once: entrants pay to take part, the outcome is decided by chance, and entrants have a chance to win a prize. That's a different situation from the purchase-conditional contest above, because here the entrant gets no product for their money — only a chance to win. Per Spillemyndigheden and Virk (the Danish business authority), this generally requires a permit as soon as the combined annual sales sum reaches DKK 15,000 or more. Below that threshold, no permit is required.

The three permit categories for an almennyttigt lotteri

The permit that exists for this kind of lottery is called almennyttigt lotteri (public-benefit lottery), and it's split into three categories by annual sales sum, per Virk's own description of the application process:

Note: the precise conditions for Category 2 and 3 aren't fully confirmed by this research and should be checked directly against lotteriregler.dk or Spillemyndigheden before locking in a specific setup — the threshold figures are adjusted periodically.

Per Virk's own description, "publicly-supported entities, associations, foundations, self-governing institutions, companies (with the exception of sole proprietorships and PMV) and political parties" can apply for a permit — ordinary commercial companies aren't excluded as applicants in themselves. But the decisive word in the name is public-benefit (almennyttigt): per Spillemyndigheden's and Borger.dk's own descriptions, the permit is granted to lotteries run to support a public-benefit purpose — not to a company's own promotional or commercial campaign.

Why "almennyttigt lotteri" is rarely an option for a commercial campaign

That leaves a genuinely honest answer for a brand or influencer considering a paid prize draw as a marketing stunt: Category 1 is explicitly reserved for associations and publicly-supported entities using volunteer labour — a commercial company can't use that category for a promotional campaign. Whether a company can, in practice, obtain a Category 2 or 3 permit for a lottery whose proceeds go to the company's own marketing rather than a public-benefit cause is a question this research could not find a clear, confirmed answer to — and it should be settled directly with Spillemyndigheden or via lotteriregler.dk before a campaign is built on that assumption. What is confirmed is that the whole scheme is built around a public-benefit purpose as the condition, not merely around who applies.

Without a public-benefit purpose and without access to this permit, the remaining route for a genuine pay-for-a-chance lottery is the ordinary gambling licence that applies to professional gambling operators such as casinos and bookmakers — an application process built for that industry, not for a one-off marketing campaign. In practice, that makes it the rare choice for a brand or influencer, compared to either the free giveaway or the purchase-conditional contest above.

Comparison: free giveaway, purchase-conditional contest and lottery

Decision framework

IF the competition should be free to enter → follow the rules in the sister article on giveaways: no tagging requirement, check whether the winner is chosen by draw or judgment for the prize-tax question.

IF you want to tie the competition to a purchase → use the purchase-conditional contest model, and disclose the purchase requirement in the same place as the competition's other terms — it's legal, but it has to be visible.

IF you're considering letting entrants pay purely for a chance to win → assume you'll need a permit from Spillemyndigheden unless annual sales stay under DKK 15,000, and check directly with Spillemyndigheden or lotteriregler.dk whether your purpose even qualifies for an almennyttigt lotteri permit before launching.

IF the campaign's purpose is ordinary commercial marketing with no public-benefit element → assume a pay-for-a-chance lottery isn't a realistic option, and choose the free giveaway or the purchase-conditional contest instead.

Worked example: when does a lottery hit the sales threshold? (illustrative)

The numbers below are a made-up worked example for illustration — not a real Make Influence customer case.

An association sells raffle tickets at DKK 20 each for a draw for an experience gift, and an influencer helps promote the ticket sales to their followers. The association sells 800 tickets over the course of the campaign. Total sales sum = 800 × DKK 20 = DKK 16,000 — above the DKK 15,000 threshold, so the lottery needs an almennyttigt lotteri permit despite the modest amount. Had the association instead sold 700 tickets for a total of DKK 14,000, the lottery would sit below the threshold and need no permit — but would still have to meet the Gambling Act's other requirements for transparent rules and a published result.

The most common mistakes

• Assuming a purchase automatically turns a contest into a lottery. If the entrant gets a product for their money, it's a purchase-conditional contest under marketing law — not a lottery under the Gambling Act.
• Assuming any company can apply for an almennyttigt lotteri permit. The scheme is built around a public-benefit purpose, not merely a company type.
• Burying the purchase requirement in generic terms instead of disclosing it in the same place as the competition's other conditions.
• Confusing prize tax (which applies to a free, chance-based competition) with the permit requirement for a genuine lottery — two entirely separate rulebooks that apply to two different competition types.
• Planning a paid prize draw without settling the public-benefit-purpose question up front with Spillemyndigheden.

Make Influence's perspective

In our experience, the large majority of brands and influencers choose between the free giveaway and the purchase-conditional contest — not because the genuine lottery is banned outright, but because it requires a public-benefit purpose that an ordinary sales campaign typically doesn't have. Our recommendation is to ask the question early: does the entrant get something for their money (purchase-conditional contest, no permit needed), or are they paying purely for a chance (lottery, a permit is likely needed, and only if the purpose is public-benefit)? That question decides the entire setup, before the brief to the influencer is even written.

FAQ

Is a "buy a ticket, win a prize" contest the same as a lottery?

No, if the entrant receives a real product for their money on top of the chance to win — that's a purchase-conditional contest under marketing law. It only becomes a lottery in the Gambling Act's sense if the entrant pays purely for the chance to win, with no other benefit in return.

Can our company apply for an almennyttigt lotteri permit?

Per Virk, ordinary companies (except sole proprietorships and PMV) can apply, but the permit is built around the lottery's purpose being public-benefit — not around the applicant's company type. Check the specific purpose with Spillemyndigheden before assuming you can obtain the permit.

What happens if our lottery stays under DKK 15,000 in sales?

Then no permit is generally required from Spillemyndigheden, but the Gambling Act's other requirements for transparent rules and a published result still apply.

Does the prize tax also apply to a genuine, paid lottery?

The prize-tax rules, covered in the sister article, assume a free competition as one of their three conditions. A paid lottery instead falls under the Gambling Act's permit requirement, not the prize-tax rules.

Can an influencer run a paid prize draw themselves, with no brand involved?

The same rules apply regardless of whether it's an influencer or a company running the draw — if entrants pay purely for the chance to win and sales reach DKK 15,000, the permit requirement applies.

Is this the same question as Forbrugerombudsmanden's "ja tak" ruling?

No. The "ja tak" ruling is about whether an offer anyone can get by commenting is a genuine saving — see Forbrugerombudsmanden's "ja tak" offer ruling. This article is about when a competition needs a gambling permit because entrants pay for a chance to win — a different rulebook.

Does a purchase-conditional contest still need ad disclosure if an influencer promotes it?

Yes, the same as any other paid or commercial influencer activation — see influencer marketing disclosure rules in Denmark and the EU.

Should the terms of a paid lottery be written into the influencer's contract?

Yes — including who is responsible for applying for and maintaining any permit from Spillemyndigheden. See what to put in an influencer contract for how specific terms like this generally belong in the agreement.