Norway Will Strengthen The State Monopoly On Gambling

On June 18, 2021, a bill to further unify gambling regulation laws in Norway was introduced in the Norwegian Storting, the state' highest legislative body. According to Abid Raja, Norway's Minister of Culture and Gender Equality, the new law is an important step to tighten industry regulation and control over all things related to gambling entertainment in Norway. Moreover, the bill will strengthen the control of gambling advertising. According to the new law, only Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto, two local gambling organizations, will be allowed to provide gambling services on the Norwegian market. Notably, having first initiated the gambling law reform in 2020, Raja insists that the existing regulatory framework needs to be updated.

Norway is a country where gambling is strictly regulated by three different laws issued in 1927, 1992 and 1995 respectively. So, the last update falls on the moment when the online casinos were just emerging. So, in fact, the existing laws do not address the legality of the iGaming industry in Norway. During the last two decades, Norwegian lawmakers have been trying to solve the gambling problem in other ways. Thus, published in 2010, the Payment Act prohibited local banks to process payments related to gambling activities. However, this has not stopped gambling enthusiasts from using e-wallets, payment options which provide greater privacy.

Although some Norwegian laws make gambling in Norway more difficult both for casino operators and players, there is still no law that prohibits online gambling in Norway. So, Norwegians have no problem using the services of gambling platforms that are owned and operated by foreign companies. In this regard, more than 50% of revenues from gambling activities pass by the state treasury. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation, leading to a 62% increase in the grey gambling market.

In his rules and regulations, Minister Abid Raja sets several goals:

• Strengthening the state monopoly on gambling and granting exclusive rights to Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto for all gambling products in the local market.
• Strengthening control over any form of advertising of gambling entertainment aimed at Scandinavian consumers.
• Eliminate inefficiencies in the way state monopoly organizations, currently regulated by the Lottery Committee, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, are supervised.
• Expansion of the authority of the Ministry of Culture to supervise gambling in Norway.
• Classification of gambling advertising to children as a serious criminal offense.
• Restriction of unlicensed gambling services provided by foreign companies in the Norwegian market.

Notably, in April 2021, the EGBA (an organization representing many licensed gambling companies on the continent) announced that Norway was losing control over its gambling market. Seeking freedom of choice, local players began to reject the state monopoly on gambling. Introducing a multi-license regime, the new law is designed to protect consumers and restore control over the industry.