Norwegian payment blocking measures come into force

Norwegian government measures to block access to payment services to unlicensed gambling operators have passed into law.

The new laws, which were first proposed in April 2018, clarify it is forbidden to provide payment services to gambling operators that do not have a licence in Norway.  This prohibition applies to both payment transactions to and from unlicensed operators and to and from other companies which provide payment transactions on behalf of unlicensed operators.

In addition, the law obliges Norwegian banks to stop payment transactions linked to unlicensed operators including those made via bank cards. The new law gives the Norwegian Gambling Authority the powers to issue cease-and-desist orders to any company found to be providing payment services to unlicensed operators.

Banks are also required to provide information and investigate all transactions they process to and from any unlicensed operators and report these transactions to the Norwegian regulator.

Trine Skei Grande, Norwegian Minister of Culture and Gender Equality, said the changes were all about streamlining legislation and providing Norway’s banks with clearer definitions of their obligations when dealing with gambling transactions.

“The changes will help make it less attractive to play on foreign gaming sites without Norwegian permission. The unregulated players offer games with a higher risk of gambling addiction and are not subject to the same accountability measures as the gaming offer of Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto,” Skei Grande added.