Gaming companies won’t stop because of new rules

Norsk Tipping.Photo:: Terje Bendiksby / NTB scanpix

Foreign betting companies don’t fear anything when the gaming policy is tightened in Norway.

 

A number of measures are being introduced to prevent Norwegian gamblers giving money to foreign gaming companies. DNS blocking, and annual reporting by banks regarding transactions to foreign gaming companies will soon be approved.

‘’The decision does not mean a thing in the wider world. It is not illegal to gamble. It has never been, and it will never be.The decision is made to strengthen Norsk Tipping,” said Mikael Mellqvist, PR manager at Coolbet, to Dagbladet newspaper.

Mellqvist’s company has an Estonian license.

“We can not have a system where the state will decide where citizens should trade goods. Is it okay to shop at Rimi, but not Rema, really? This is Norway, not North Korea, said Mellqvist.

One of the competitors pointed out that the gaming customers”will not be criminalised if they continue to gamble” after the regulatory changes.

‘’There will be no changes for the customer, either in practice or in life form. Nothing happens if you continue to gamble,’’ said Stian Røsvik Bjørstad of ‘ComeOn’.

Will have an effect

Kari Henriksen of Arbeiderpartiet (AP) is convinced that the tightening of the rules will have an effect.

“I hear what they say. The proposal is a proposal with real content.

It is clear that the supervisory authorities are given greater opportunities to intervene and impose criminal sanctions, and there will be a decline in the use of online gambling, I am convinced. I see that they need to reassure their customers, but I think they are wrong,”said the parliamentary politician to Dagbladet newspaper.

Norwegian profiles

In Norway, only Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto have permission to offer betting games. The gaming monopoly has for years been challenged by foreign gaming companies.

Estimates are that gaming companies spend NOK 609 million annually for advertising on Norwegian television channels that broadcast from abroad figures from the Lottery Authority showed in 2016.

A number of Norwegian sports and celebrities are used as “faces” for the gaming companies in Norway.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today