Norwegian Gaming Authority Lowers Gambling Limits Again

As the world relaxes into its new normal online gamblers from around the globe are once again spending their time and money at their preferred online casinos. However, several gambling jurisdictions are taking a protectionist stance in regard to increased casino activity and the resultant rise in revenues.

Whether it is the Gambling Authority directly imposing new limits, the extension of existing limits or in the case of Flutter Entertainment, an operator imposing limits proactively to avoid jurisdictional intervention, the fact remains that players are being robbed of the right to manage their own finances.

 Norway Plays Big Brother

In addition to their ongoing resistance to allowing free-market regulated online gambling Norway has announced a new player restriction with Bjørn Helge Hoffmann, Head of responsible gaming at Norsk Tipping, saying:

“We have seen a clear effect after we adjusted the limit in December, in that the proportion of high-risk players has fallen over a longer period of time. Nevertheless, we see that there is still a group of core players who lose a lot. Therefore, we want to see if a lower limit can affect these in a positive direction.”

The state-owned operator Norsk Tipping has targeted a series of popular high-risk casino games and imposed a blanket monthly loss limit of NOK 5,000 (approximately €490). The games in question are KongKasino, eFlax, Bingoria, and Yezz.

If these names sound familiar, they should as they are the same high-risk games that Norway earmarked for a loss limit implementation back in December 2020. At the time the monthly losses were reduced from NOK 10,000 down to NOK 7,500.

The country’s gambling monopoly Norsk Tipping is expecting to incur annual revenue losses of up to NOK 175 million once these changes come into effect.

 Loss of Consumer Rights

Whether it is the Gambling Authority directly imposing new limits, the extension of existing limits or in the case of Flutter Entertainment, an operator imposing limits proactively to avoid jurisdictional intervention, the fact remains that players are being robbed of the right to manage their own finances.

The promotion of safer gambling tools and support options is a much-needed reality of the iGaming industry. However, determining how much time and money a functional tax-paying adult can spend on any hobby is coming very close to the kinds of restrictions we see in countries like China where they recently imposed a 3-hour weekly gaming allowance. They even went so far as to outline which days and which windows of time during those days gaming will be legal.

While it may seem unlikely at this point, there is a fine line between "protection" and "domination", especially when regulation begins to overrule self-determination.