Norway looks to bolster online monopoly amid unregulated crackdown
Study finds that gambling on unregulated offshore sites accounts for NOK1bn or 10% of country's total gaming market
The Norwegian government is mulling a series of recommendations to strengthen its gaming monopoly after a study into the sector revealed gambling on unlicensed offshore websites accounted for NOK1bn (£90m), almost 10% of the country’s total gaming market.
The study, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, outlined a number of recommendations aimed at bolstering its gaming monopoly and protecting consumers, including blocking bank transactions from foreign online betting companies and regulating social casino games.
“It should be possible for the Norwegian Gaming Authority to require the banks to submit annual reports on transactions with individual betting companies and payment service providers,” the report said.
“The Gaming Authority can order the banks to reject transactions with individual betting companies and payment service providers,” it added.
Gambling and horse racing licences within Norway are exclusive to monopolies Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto respectively, but the study found that up to 42% of Norwegians believed foreign betting companies were “allowed” to offer online gambling sites to players in the country, while 20% were uncertain.
The report also claimed that up to 90% of adverts for egaming on Norwegian television were for foreign betting companies not licensed in the country, and that it was important to “stop the uncontrolled flow” of ads into Norwegian homes.
“The competition from foreign betting companies online challenges the strictly regulated and controlled Norwegian market, where operators currently have limited opportunities to introduce new technology to offer their games of chance on new platforms,” the report said.
The report claims the Norwegian Media Authority is “trying to reach an agreement” with UK authorities over betting firms running ads to Norwegian players, but said if talks were not successful it should implement a ban on the transmission of unlawful marketing in a bid to reduce the number of unlicensed firms advertising to Norwegian players.
In October the Norwegian Gaming Authority fired a warning shot to operators, including PokerStars, Mr Green and Betsson, who it claimed were advertising to Norwegian players.
The report also offered recommendations to help license online gaming operators, such as assisting the lottery to offer its products online.
A further tightening of Norway’s monolpolised framework is likely to be met with opposition from the industry. Last month, European Gaming and Betting Association secretary general Maarten Haijer told eGaming Review that, as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), it was “questionable” whether Norway’s monopolised gambling system was consistent with previous European Court of Justice rulings and EEA requirements.
“It is highly questionable whether this is the case if you look at the advertising expenditure of the monopoly and the recent proposal to further expand its sales channels and offer, whilst the stated aim of the monopoly is to limit supply in order to decrease the availability of gambling services,” Haijer said.
Many had hoped Norway would follow the trend towards a more liberalised egaming framework while last year the country’s new centre-right coalition government said it would legislate in order to allow foreign operators into the market in an attempt to increase tax revenue from the sector.