How to Run an Influencer Giveaway or Contest, Legally

What counts as a "giveaway" or "contest" here?

An influencer giveaway is when a creator, on behalf of or alongside a brand, offers a prize to one or more followers, usually in exchange for an entry action — a comment, a follow, a share. Legally, what it's called doesn't matter — "giveaway", "contest", "competition" are interchangeable. What matters is how the winner is chosen. If the winner is picked by a draw or another element of chance, it's a chance-based competition. If the winner is picked on a genuine assessment of entrants' effort — best photo, best caption, best idea — it's a skill-based competition. That distinction is what decides whether you owe Danish prize tax, covered below.

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

Which entry requirements are legal — and which aren't?

The most common legal mistake in an influencer giveaway has nothing to do with the prize itself — it's the entry requirement. Denmark's consumer ombudsman, Forbrugerombudsmanden, has repeatedly reported and fined businesses for requiring entrants to tag or tell a friend in the comments to enter. The rule is Markedsføringsloven § 10, the spam ban: tagging another person sends them a notification, and legally that's an unsolicited electronic message sent for a marketing purpose — exactly the kind of message a business can't send without the recipient's consent. Forbrugerombudsmanden has explicitly stated the rule applies whether the word "tag" is used directly or entrants are simply asked to "tell" a friend about the competition in the comments — both send the same unsolicited message in practice. A 2024 case resulted in a 10,000 kr. fine against a business that required tagging as an entry condition.

The rule of thumb: if the entry requirement makes the entrant send something to a named third party, it's very likely a spam-ban violation. If it only requires the entrant to do something on their own account — follow, like, comment, share to their own story — it's outside the ban.

Do you need a permit from Spillemyndigheden?

No — not if the competition is free to enter. Denmark's Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden, states on its own site that offering games and competitions under the Gambling Act only requires a licence when participants pay a stake to take part. Offering or arranging games where no stake is paid for participation does not require a licence. An ordinary brand giveaway — free to enter, no purchase required — therefore falls outside the Gambling Act's licensing requirement, whether the winner is picked by draw or by judgment.

Note the distinction from prize tax below: not needing a gambling licence does not mean you owe no tax. These are two separate rules that can both apply at once.

Do you owe Danish prize tax?

The short answer: only if the competition is chance-based. Under the Danish Gambling Duties Act (spilleafgiftsloven, SPILAL) § 15 and the Danish Tax Agency's own legal guidance, a competition has to meet three conditions to fall under the prize-tax rules instead of the Gambling Act's licensing rules: it has to be free to enter, it has to be publicly open (no pre-screening of who can participate), and the outcome has to depend wholly or partly on chance — for example, a draw among everyone who commented or shared.

If all three conditions are met, the business running the competition generally owes 17.5% prize tax (gevinstafgift) on the portion of the prize's value above a small exempt threshold. Based on the Danish tax authority's own published guidance, that threshold is typically around 200 kr. for cash prizes, and up to 750 kr. for prizes in goods — the sources aren't perfectly consistent on the exact goods threshold, so confirm the current figure with Skattestyrelsen before filing. The tax generally has to be reported and paid within 15 days of announcing the winner, and the business needs to be registered as liable for the tax with the Danish Tax Agency to run this kind of competition lawfully. It's not the only Denmark-specific tax question influencer marketing runs into — see also affiliate influencer marketing in Denmark for how Skat treats commission and gifted products in that context.

If the competition is instead genuinely skill-based — the winner chosen purely on entrants' ability, knowledge or creative merit, with no element of chance — it falls outside the prize-tax rules. Instead, the winner's own prize is generally taxed as ordinary personal income in their hands, rather than being tax-exempt for the winner the way a chance-based prize is.

Worked example: what does a random-draw prize cost the business? (illustrative)

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

A brand offers a product bundle worth DKK 2,000 as the prize in an Instagram giveaway. The winner is drawn at random from everyone who commented on the post — free to enter, publicly open, purely chance-based. With a 750 kr. exempt threshold for goods prizes, the taxable portion of the prize is DKK 2,000 − DKK 750 = DKK 1,250. Prize tax comes to DKK 1,250 × 17.5% = DKK 218.75, which the business — not the winner — has to report and pay. Had the brand instead had a judge pick the best caption (a genuine skill-based assessment, no chance element), the business would owe no prize tax on the same DKK 2,000 prize — but the winner would then have to declare the prize as personal income themselves.

Ad disclosure still applies

A giveaway isn't an exemption from the usual ad-disclosure rules — it's actually one of the clearest examples of a benefit that triggers the disclosure duty. A chance to win a prize is exactly the kind of commercial benefit that both the FTC's own guidance and Danish/EU rules treat as a reason the audience needs to know a post is advertising — see the full breakdown in influencer marketing disclosure rules in Denmark and the EU. That applies whether the influencer funded the prize themselves or the brand supplied it — the collaboration to run the competition is itself the benefit that triggers the requirement.

If the prize is a free product from the brand rather than cash, the usual gifting principles apply on top — see gifting vs paid collaborations for when free product is the right model at all.

Terms and transparency: what entrants need to be able to see

Forbrugerombudsmanden requires that a competition's terms be clearly marked, so consumers can easily read which conditions apply to entering. In practice, the following needs to be visible, not buried in a comment or a link nobody clicks:

• Age and geographic restrictions — who can enter, and from where
• Prize value and number of winners — so entrants can judge their real odds
• How the winner is chosen — draw or judged selection, and against what criteria
• When and where the winner is announced — and how the winner gets contacted
• How and when the prize gets delivered

If entry is also tied to giving marketing consent (e.g. signing up to a newsletter to enter), that purpose must not be overshadowed or obscured — it has to be as visible as the competition itself.

Decision framework: chance-based or skill-based?

IF you want the simplest possible setup and the prize value is low → a draw among everyone who commented is fastest to run — accept the small prize tax as a cost of doing it.

IF the prize is high-value and you want to avoid prize tax → design the competition as a genuine skill assessment (best photo, best answer, a judge who actually evaluates entries) — but budget the extra resource for judging, and know the winner will owe income tax on the prize themselves.

IF you're unsure whether your "best caption" selection is a real skill assessment or just a random draw in disguise → assume the tax authority will treat it as chance-based unless the judging criteria are written down and genuinely applied.

IF the entry requirement involves tagging or telling others → remove that requirement regardless of which model you otherwise choose. That's the mistake that triggers fines, not just tax.

How to brief a creator to run a legal giveaway

• Write the entry requirement explicitly into the brief — "comment an answer" or "share to your story", never "tag a friend". See what to put in an influencer contract for how specific terms like this generally belong in the agreement.
• Decide the model (draw or judged) before the post goes live — not partway through if you become unsure about the tax question.
• Write the ad disclosure into the post itself from the start, the same as any other paid collaboration.
• Ask the creator to include the full terms — age, geography, how and when the winner is chosen — either directly in the post or in an easy-to-find link.
• Settle internally who handles any prize-tax filing if the competition is chance-based — the business is liable, not the creator.

The most common mistakes

• Asking entrants to tag a friend "for extra chances to win". That's precisely the wording Forbrugerombudsmanden has repeatedly fined businesses for.
• Assuming no gambling licence means no tax. These are two different rules — one licence (Spillemyndigheden), one tax (the prize-tax rules) — and only the licence requirement disappears when entry is free.
• Calling a random selection "judged" to dodge the tax. The tax authority looks at the actual process, not the wording used in the post.
• Skipping disclosure because "it's just a fun giveaway". The chance to win is itself a commercial benefit that triggers the requirement.
• Not writing the terms down and only explaining the rules when someone asks why they didn't win.

Make Influence's perspective

In our experience, the biggest risk in an influencer giveaway is rarely the prize tax — it's the entry requirement. The tag-a-friend requirement is common enough in the industry that many brands don't realise it's illegal until they see a competitor get fined for it. We always recommend writing the exact entry wording into the brief to the creator, rather than leaving it to the creator's own judgement — the same discipline as ad disclosure generally, see influencer marketing disclosure rules. On the tax side, our experience is that most brands overestimate the cost of doing it properly — 17.5% of a modest prize value is rarely the expense that decides whether a giveaway is worth running.

FAQ

Can I require entrants to follow my Instagram account to enter?

Yes. Following an account sends no message to a third party, so it isn't covered by the spam ban.

Can I require a purchase to enter?

Yes, a competition can be tied to a purchase, but be aware it can change how the prize-tax rules assess the competition — the "free to enter" condition is about whether a stake is paid for entering the competition itself, not about whether a purchase happens elsewhere. If you're unsure about your specific setup, check it with an accountant before launching.

What happens if we require tagging as a condition anyway?

You risk a report to the authorities from Forbrugerombudsmanden and a fine — a past case resulted in a 10,000 kr. fine against a single business for exactly this.

Do we need a licence from Spillemyndigheden ourselves?

No, if the competition is free to enter. The licensing requirement under the Gambling Act only applies when entrants pay a stake to take part.

Is the prize taxable for the winner?

In a chance-based competition where the business has paid the prize tax, the prize is generally tax-free for the winner. In a genuinely skill-based competition, the prize is typically taxed as ordinary personal income for the winner.

Do the same rules apply to a giveaway a creator funds and runs themselves, with no brand involved?

Yes — the spam ban, the prize-tax rules and the transparency requirements apply regardless of whether the creator or the brand funds the prize. If there's no commercial collaboration with a brand involved at all, though, there's nothing to disclose as an ad.