(Newswire.net — June 14, 2018) — On January 18, 2018 Norwegian politicians drafted a proposal with 8 points aimed at regulating the international gambling websites in the country. Currently, the rights to offer gambling services in Norway belong exclusively to the state-owned monopolies – Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto. The purpose of the proposal is to strengthen the market dominance of these companies. Norway’s Family and Culture committee agreed to some parts of the proposal in late April and the parliament agreed to the amended changes a few days ago.
The initial draft contained restrictions that would have made it virtually unfeasible for international online gambling sites to offer their services in Norway. An IP address block would close access to the websites making it impossible to log in to those websites across the country. Nevertheless, the changes that were made to the proposal softened the regulations and as a result, the restrictions are minimal. Unauthorized gambling websites will still be able to reach their audience, but visitors to the website will get a warning message about the illegality of the provided services.
One of the eight proposals in the original draft required domain name system (DNS) blocking of unregulated websites. “The Parliament asks the government to stop gaming at unregulated gambling companies by blocking their web pages and preventing download and play through apps,” read the proposal. The committee did not agree to this point, consequently, taking away the most damaging effect of the draft, informs the Norwegian webportal Casinopånett.eu.
Many have emphasized the uneventful nature of the proposal. Some called it a purely symbolic move while others pointed out that as far as customers are concerned, everything would remain the same. A representative from Cherry AB, a Swedish gaming company, stated that there will be “no changes for the customer, either in practice or in law.”
The moves were seen as an attempt to strengthen the market power of Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto. Founded in 1948, Norsk Tipping came under a full state ownership in 1993. The company offers a wide range of services, including national lottery as well as sports betting and gaming. Mobile games have also gained popularity among the customers since their introduction in 2005. Norsk Tipping is managed by Norway’s Ministry of Culture and all the proceeds from the activities are channeled back to sports and culture programs in the country. All other companies, including internationally licensed online websites, providing gambling services are illegal in the country.
Sources:
https://casinopånett.eu/nyheter/norway-ferdigstiller-listen-over-blokkerte-nettsider/
http://www.gamingintelligence.com/legal/47148-norway-proposes-new-rules-to-strengthen-igaming-payments-ban