-
Casinos for you
Norway Continues Crackdown on Illegal Gambling
By Shane Addinall Jul 13, 2021 LegalityNorway continues to support an outdated gambling monopoly, going so far as to deny EU licensed casinos the right to advertise to Norwegians. This has resulted in the Betsson group receiving a severe “cease and desist” notice.Norway’s ongoing gambling monopoly has been a point of discussion in many articles and news reports, specifically the potential for a change in government's attitude towards a licensed open-market given the April announcement that they would be reviewing their gambling policy.
The review that Norwegian Minister of Culture and Gender Equality, Abid Raja, announced was aimed at taking the three separate Acts that covering gambling in Norway and streamlining them into a single unified Gaming Act.
Despite that initial hope more recent reports on the amendments and the intention of the new Gaming Act appears to support the sad reality that it will only serve to strengthen the current monopolies held by state-owned lottery provider Norsk Tipping and parimutuel betting provider Norsk Rikstoto.
Long Arm of the Law
In keeping with the protectionist mentality that is evident in their longstanding gambling monopoly, the Norwegian Gaming Authority (Lottstift) has officially taken steps to address the illegal gambling sites run by BML Group Limited.
In support of the decision a Lottstift representative said:
“If the illegal relationship does not cease after the decision has been made, the Norwegian Lotteries Authority will consider notifying coercive fines that run until the illegal gambling offer has been rectified or terminated. A coercive fine is not a punishment, and the obligation to pay a coercive fine is not dependent on guilt, but is triggered when an illegal relationship occurs and should be set so high that it does not pay financially for the person responsible not to comply with the decision.”
The decision was taken to demand that the BML Group Limited cease offering games of chance to Norwegian residents based on the ruling that they are not allowed to participate in “lotteries and gambling” not offered by Norsk Tipping or Norsk Rikstoto.
The legal notice specifically mentions Betsson, Betsafe, Nordicbet, Norgesautomaten and CasinoEuro as the offending sites with reference to the fact that these sites offer gambling in the Norwegian language, use the local flag for reference and have advertised offers on local television.
We Say We’re Okay
Norway’s gambling monopoly has been challenged in light of the free trade agreements that exist within the European Union, however, the Norwegian Lotteries Authority has officially stated that it deems itself not in contravention of the EU trade agreement.
Based on this position the Authority has proactively shot down any response which points to the BML’s Malta license saying:
“Although BML Group’s gambling licence is provided by the Maltese authorities, the illegal gaming offer takes effect in Norway by the company offering the games on the internet, inviting players in the Norwegian market to participate, and allowing Norwegians to register as players.”
Despite removing more than €200 million in annual taxable revenues from Norwegian coffers and no proof that players are better protected from gambling harms by a monopoly the government is currently refusing to even discuss an open-market approach to local gambling.
It will be interesting to see if ongoing declines in local channelisation will see Norway open their minds to licensing or if it will result in them clamping down on the online gambling market, even more, bringing more providers to heel for using Norwegian references on their websites.
You might also like