Norway is making big moves in the gambling scene on a legislative level, potentially setting down the framework for real money gambling to take place online. Joining the heavily regulated gambling market has some strong benefits for the Norwegian economy. After all, it’s not like a decades-old ban on gambling is actually working. Players are getting smart enough to leave the country and use cash to play in tournaments, since they cannot use any Norwegian Bank to place bets.
Attitudes in the country about poker and horse racing are changing, and this is spurring lawmakers to rethink the attitude on gambling. Simply put, this is a great step for Norway to take. As mentioned before, banning gambling doesn’t make anyone safer. It would actually do Norway well to set some regulations in place. Most operators know that they have to divert a percentage of funds to programs that teach people about problem gambling and what to do about it. Poker is a game of skill that is fun to bet on, and people tend to be much more disciplined than you would expect.
Banning gambling isn’t going to stop a true addict from finding their “rush”, so why not regulate it instead?
Right now, nothing is in place. The Culture Committee is going to review some proposals on opening up the market, but they’ve made no promises. Once they look at how things are going in neighboring countries of Europe, they will draft legislation they can implement next year.
Currently, you can’t gamble online at all in Norway. The government offers lotteries, keno, and a little bit of sports betting through a state-controlled company called Norsk Tipping. Norsk Rikstoto is another company that is state-controlled and offers horseracing (pari-mutuel betting).
These are exciting times for Norway’s citizens. If online gambling is made legal in the country, then this sets the stage for some of the world’s biggest operators to set up shop in the country as well. The influx of tax revenue for the country could be absolutely huge, but it remains to be seen whether the legislation will really go anywhere. After years of not being able to gamble online, some people feel that there’s no point in changing anything. We’ll watch the situation as it unfolds.
For online games such as bingo and slots, I highly recommend the Swedish site Amorbingo.com. Give it a try!