Norwegian watchdog to fight foreign operators

The Norwegian Gaming Authority is pushing to get new regulations and limit the impact of foreign gambling operators.

Norway.- International gambling operators keep regulators busy worldwide and Norway is not an exception. The Norwegian Gaming Authority (NGA) has reiterated its support to get proper regulations around advertising for said offshore companies.

According to the NGA, operators spent €91 million on television adverts (only possible thanks to a loophole on TV ads regulations), which means a €78.1 million increase year on year. Under the local legislation, operators can put their promotions on channels broadcasted from outside Norway, making it possible to reach Norwegian customers and compete with state-run firms Norsk tipping and Rikstoto.

“The Norwegian gambling regulation aims to ensure that gaming schemes are arranged in a satisfactory manner under public control, prevent negative consequences of gaming and ensure that profit from games can be allocated to approved ‘good causes’,” NGA director Henrik Nordal told iGamingBusiness.com.

“The presence of illegal operators without these responsibility tools provide a serious safety challenge for our consumers, especially the most vulnerable of them, and that is our main concern,” Nordal added and stated: “To better meet these challenges our parliament has therefore asked the Ministry of Culture to implement a Domain Name Service-blocking to try and better channel consumers to operators that have a licenses in Norway and hence sufficient responsibility tools implemented.”