Survey shows notable drop in gambling harm in Norway

The survey suggests that gambling harm in Norway has more than halved since 2019.

Norway.- A new survey has identified a dramatic drop in the number of people suffering from gambling harm in Norway. The number of people affected is estimated to have fallen by more than half in the last four years.

The University of Bergen’s Spillforsk survey found that around 23,000 people suffered from problem gambling while 93,000 were at risk of developing gambling harms. That compares to 55,000 problem gamblers and 122,000 at risk when the survey was last carried out in 2019. 

Henrik Nordal, The director of the Norwegian gambling regulator Lottstift said the survey demonstrated the effectiveness of the regulator’s actions against unlicensed operators. Norway maintains a monopoly system with two state-controlled gambling operators, Norsk Tipping and Norsk Riktoto.

“More and more banks are stopping deposits and profits to and from the illegal companies and illegal TV advertising has been stopped. At the same time, the loss limits for Norsk Tipping’s casino games have been tightened. We also believe that the debt register leads to fewer problems.”

He added: “The mobile phone has made gambling much more accessible. You would think that more people would have gambling problems, but we see that we are able to protect many players with effective measures. At the same time, problem gambling is terrible for those affected, and we will continue to work purposefully to prevent problems with gambling.”

Norway’s ban on gambling ads

The effect of Norway’s ban on gambling ads can be seen in the results of the survey. The results showed a drop in the number of people who saw ads across all media, but particularly on television. Unlicensed operators have been banned from advertising on Norwegian TV since January 1 under the Broadcast Act.

Nordel said: “We know that the heavy advertising pressure from illegal betting companies such as Unibet, Betsson and ComeOn on TV channels such as TVNorge, TV3 and Viasat led to Norwegians being unsure of or not knowing which companies are allowed to offer their services in Norway. We now see that this is about to turn around and that more people know who is allowed to offer gambling.”

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