Each country has different rules when it comes to gambling legislature. In some places, gamblers have unlimited freedom to do whatever they want to, while, on the other hand, you can find countries where regulations are quite strict. When it comes to Norway, both of these examples apply.
What’s the Case with Norway?
In the last couple of years, their government tried to monopolize gambling but without any success. For the time being, their residents are able to play online bingo or utilize online casinos without any problem.
According to their law, only Norsk Rikstoto as well as state-owned, Norsk Tipping, can provide consumers with their services. Other operators can also ask for permission to offer them, but they cannot obtain a full gaming license.
Furthermore, casinos that are licensed must divide 35% of their earnings to Norsk Tipping and 30% to good causes.
Battling with Unlicensed Gambling Sites:
As we previously mentioned, in the last few years, Norway was quite persistent when it comes to blocking unlicensed online casinos, however, they have never gone through with it one hundred per cent.
Moreover, at some point, their attitude was noticed by the European Free Trade Association of which this country is a member.
Namely, EFTA stated that they would challenge them in case they appointed certain restrictions and limits on where their citizens could gamble. Some even came to a realization that Norway is not so concerned about their gamblers, but more about securing the income this industry is bringing.
Hope for Consumers After All:
Even though the government was quite relentless as far as this topic is concerned, the good news is: gamblers still have the option to pick the gambling operator that suits them the most.
Furthermore, the Lottery, Gaming Scheme and Totalisor Acts do not forbid people from this country to participate in unlicensed gambling activities. They can utilize both online casinos and online bingo from any operator they want.
According to some reports, there are approximately hundreds of Norwegian-language online bingo websites and online casinos. Some of them include Unibet, MariaBingo and Bettson.
What About Online Bingo?
Residents do not have to worry about it at all. In the last couple of years, this form of entertainment has become extremely popular, hence, gamblers will have no limitations and restrictions as far as this is concerned.
If the price of the oil stays low for a certain period of time, the government will make another play for gambling profit.
Source: “Gambling In Norway: Monopoly In Theory, Free Market In Practice” https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2019/02/20/39255/gambling-in-norway-monopoly-in-theory-free-market-in-practice/. European Gaming. February 21, 2019.
Comment: Will be interesting to see whether Norway will go full throttle in the future…
