In its continued efforts to stymie illegal gambling in Norway, the government is looking to block all TV and online advertising from illegal international gambling sites. But is "safeguarding the people" their true motivation?
Norway offers legal gambling to its residents through two sanctioned bodies, Norsk Rikstoto which supervises bets on animal racing and Norsk Tipping which oversees lottery and casino games. However, the regulated Norwegian gambling sector faces opposition from a popular unregulated casino sector.
In an effort to rein in the more than €592 million spent annually at illegal casinos the Norwegian government banned all payments and financial processing for such casinos as of 1 January 2020.
Television Advertising Blackout
The next step in addressing the issue of unregulated gambling in the country is to address the marketing channels these underhanded operators abuse.
To do so the government has had to table amendments to the Broadcasting Act that empowers the Norwegian Media Authority to demand that Norwegian TV distributors and internet service providers block access to unregulated gambling providers.
The primary reason for the amended bill is that a loophole currently being exploited by unregulated casinos is to advertise on television networks outside of Norway which have airing or streaming agreements with Norwegian networks.
The bill would allow the government to enforce a blockade on even these channels and thereby shut down this loophole.
Revenue Versus Responsibility, Maybe?
While the move might be purely a tactical one of for the government it has widespread real-world implications for Norwegian television and interment providers. Nielsen Media Research estimated that such a shutdown will cost the marketing sector as much as €50 million in annual revenues.
Minister of Culture and Gender Equality, Abid Q. Raja, said:
“For the government, this is a value choice where the interests of people with gambling problems and their relatives must take precedence over financial considerations.”
These words ring somewhat hollow as the government doesn’t face any real impact to their revenues as it is expected that most gamblers who currently spend more than €500 million will move their spend to products supplied by Norsk Rikstoto and Norsk Tipping.
In real terms, the government could see a monumental spike in revenues from the gambling sector while doing serious harm to Norway’s marketing sector.
The real question is whether Norway is seeking to enforce this ban in order to safeguard their citizens or in order to fatten its coffers?
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