No Changes to Norway’s Gambling in Wake of General Election Expected

There aren’t going to be any major upsets in the way that Norway regulates its gambling, observers have noted, following the recently concluded general election in the country.

With the Labor Party winning a two-seat majority in the new parliament, the incumbent government will retain its clout. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and his fellow party members have repeatedly proven reluctant to enact changes to the country’s state monopoly.

Gambling Monopoly Safe in Norway After Election Results

This will likely be the case over the next four years as well, with little indication that Norway may be considering a revision of its gambling laws, even at a time when the illegal gambling market is surging across Europe, and neighbors such as Finland have decided to shift towards a license-based model as well.

Yet not all has been smooth sailing at home, with Norsk Tipping, the sole licensed and state-controlled operator, facing a spate of scandals and one faux pas after another. The gambling regulator, Lotteritilsynet, launched an investigation into the Lotto, Eurojackpot, and Vikinglotto products, claiming that there were serious issues with the way those products were controlled in the first place.  

Then, the now former Norsk Tipping CEO, Tonje Sagstuen, resigned from the position following a gaffe that saw the operator wrongly inform thousands of players that they had secured huge Eurojackpot prizes.

But the list goes on with one player paid out $2.5 million prize and further issues with the operator’s self-exclusion tools, which strangely enough left users using iPhones and iPads unable to self-exclude.

Strings of Embarrassing Scandals Unlikely to Change Anything

The regulator found out that there were systematic errors with the draws of certain games, a pattern that was identified by bad actors who then exploited the fact to their own gain and at the expense of the lottery. Despite all of this, however, Norway has found little reason to bring in private operators and open up the market to the best bidders.

The nation believes, or at least the ruling government does, that opening the sluicegates of mass gambling through a license-based model would only bring more harm than it does good.

At the same time, Norway’s Gambling Authority has continued to mete out enforcement actions and punishments against parties it believes have been breaking the law, such as influencers who have been marketing unlicensed gambling products.