In some countries, gambling doesn’t represent a huge problem, however, you can always come across the ones where this industry seems to be an issue. One of them is Norway.
Dealing With The Government:
Fortunately, several operators from this country gained courage and decided to deal with this situation by facing the government.
Namely, they wanted nothing more than to try to stimulate them to rethink their strict gambling policy.
As we stated in the beginning, this month, brands like Betsson, Kindred Group, Gaming Innovation Group and ComeOn formed an alliance called the Norwegian Industry Association for Online Gambling.
Making Changes Concerning Gambling Rules:
This brand-new formation wants to alleviate the rules that their government made, which somehow restricts local gamblers to the state-run Norsk Rikstoto (race betting) as well as Norsk Tipping (sports betting and casino games).
Furthermore, they want to bring international licensed online gambling operators to this country and not utilize only the local ones.
Contacting Other Operators:
The NBO placed Carl Fredrik Stenstorm, Rikstoto, former commercial director, as their secretary-general.
Moreover, they also want to reach other operators from European Economic Area and European Union.
The NBO will be chaired by Rolf Sims, who once was a Ministry of Culture and who has also participated in creating Norway’s gambling policy
When asked about this topic, he said that he was involved in Rikstoto’s responsible gambling initiatives, however, he accentuated that his experience taught him that these solutions are not always helpful, especially if they are not taking into consideration the large section of the market which the government cannot control.
On the other hand, Mr. Stenstrom praised regulatory regimes in Sweden and Denmark, claiming that they are regularize “all the serious companies under one, responsible model.”
A Different Online Gambling Licensing System:
In August last year, the establishers of NBO published a report that showcased that less strict online gambling system would potentially offer much better value for users and that at the same time it would gain more efficient control over problem gambling.
Unfortunately, Henrik Nordal, deputy director-general of the Norwegian Gaming Authority obviously didn’t agree with it, therefore, he instantly threw it away!
It seems like this country is not interested enough in solving this situation and changing its approach towards gambling industry.
Furthermore, Norway has even tried to forbid advertising, restrict payment processing channels as well as interlock unwarranted domains.
Source: “Norway-Facing Online Gambling Operators Form New Lobby Group” https://calvinayre.com/2019/01/30/business/norway-online-gambling-new-lobby-group/. CalvinAyre.com January 31, 2019.
