Norway persuades Facebook to remove 36 online gambling pages

Norwegian regulatory agency, Lotteritilsynet, has persuaded Facebook to eliminate over 30 gambling pages from the social media platform for promoting their wares to local gamblers without permission.

Violation of Norway’s gambling laws and Facebook’s guidelines

The online gambling operators cited in the official announcement were the Gamesys Group’s Vera&John online casino brand, Coolbet’s Kommunepoker, and Vennepoker brands, Gaming Innovation Group’s Rizk brand (now part of the Betsson Group) and Cherry AB’s ComeOn brand.

Lotteritilsynet’s attorney Monica Alisøy Kjelsnes said the 36 pages violated Norway’s gambling laws, as well as “Facebook’s own guidelines.” 

This was not the first time the Norwegian regulator has convinced Facebook to pull gambling operators’ Norwegian-facing pages, with examples on this site dating back to 2014. They also managed to convince YouTube to conduct its own Norwegian-language gambling purge.

Moreover, Norway recently amended the country’s Broadcasting Act to limit the ability of international rogues to market their wares on Norwegian-facing television channels. 

Kjelsnes also mentioned they are expecting foreign sites to change their marketing strategies through other channels once the new measures take effect on January 1, 2021. 

Norway is one of the few countries that still hold on to a state-run monopoly gambling model. Spillavhengighet Norge, the country’s problem gambling association, is currently conducting a study to determine whether an open licensing model might be better equipped to limit the ranks of the nation’s problem gamblers, which have been on the rise over the past five years.