Norwegian Ministry of Culture to launch a consultation on new gambling laws

Norway’s Ministry of Culture is to launch a consultation on consolidating the country’s gambling laws into a single legislative framework while maintaining Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto's monopolies in the market.

What will happen if the new bill were to pass into law?

The new bill would gather the existing Lottery Act, the Gambling Act, and the Totalisator Act under a group of gambling laws that would apply to the entire Norwegian market. A number of stakeholders will be invited to give their opinions on the proposals, as the consultation will run through to 29 September.

Minister of Culture and Gender Equality Abid Q. Raja said:
 

The purpose of the bill is to improve responsible gaming [standards] and to prevent problems and other negative consequences of gambling. We still want voluntary and non-profit purposes to benefit from the profits that gambling generates, and the bill facilitates this, but at the same time also demands more efficiencies from Norsk Tipping.

These are the main proposals for the bill:
 

• Both Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto would be subject to strict state control, as they retain the exclusive rights to offer gambling;
   
• The Ministry of Culture would assume responsibility for all elements of the gambling market, including rules governing the horse racing sector, which is currently overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food;
   
• Remote operators would still not be permitted to offer gambling in Norway, while a ban on foreign operators marketing their services to consumers in the country would also remain in place;
   
• Operators would be required to ensure that their adverts do not target children or people who have been excluded from gambling;
   
• Norsk Rikstoto and Tipping would also need to carry out regular risk assessments and establish measures to ensure they are operating in a responsible manner, and that their services cannot be used for criminal activities;
   
• The country’s regulator Lotteritilsynet would also be given more power to ensure that gambling is taking place legally, including ordering internet service providers to notify users that when they see marketing from offshore operators, this is both unlicensed and illegal;
   
• The consultation will also touch on the loot boxes in video games issue and whether this should be covered by the new set of laws.

The proposals for the new bill come after the Norwegian regulator said recently that it was also to launch a survey of the country’s banks to find out what measures the financial institutions took in order to block payments to offshore sites and to investigate how they support customers with gambling problems.

The survey will be sent out to 170 Norwegian banks during the summer, under anonymized submissions to make sure no enforcement action is brought against respondents.