The monopoly in Norway is a big failure

With the new Gambling Act replacing the 1995 Lottery Act, the 1927 Totalisator Act and the 1992 Gaming Scheme Act, I think we will see larger operators still taking charge in the Norwegian market. They will be working around any blockers the government is throwing at them with the calculated risk of infringement fees.

The serious smaller operators will continue to pull out more and more and eventually there will be no more healthy competition in the market. But the biggest change and negative effect is that unregulated operators without any licences will push enormous amounts of marketing money into the market and there will be no way to enforce fines. This includes operators without any moral conscience for areas such as return to player, responsible gambling, anti-money laundering, or any kind of safety for the customer when it comes to ensuring the minimum level of fairness or guarantees winnings will be paid.

We will also see more crypto-oriented operators pushing their services in Norway as there are more stable on- and off-ramp payment solutions for fiat users, meaning they can deposit and withdraw in their own currency without really committing to the world of crypto.

Norway is one of the last gambling monopolies in Europe and its people are big casino and betting enthusiasts. It’s a country where freedom of choice, democracy and the right to decide for themselves is of paramount importance.

Pushing for an open market

It’s safe to say that the monopoly in Norway is a big failure. What is happening is that Norwegians play where they want to play regardless and, in the end, the Norwegian government is missing out on both taking care of their people when it comes to responsible gambling and anti-money laundering, as well as a huge amount of tax revenue that now goes to other nations. Norwegians are playing for billions of krone yearly and between 200,000 to 300,000 Norwegians are estimated to be gambling with operators abroad.

If Norway would take the step and make it an open and regulated market, everyone would be better off. I also think Norway could learn from others like the Malta Gaming Authority, the Swedish Gambling Authority and the UK Gambling Commission when it comes to responsible gaming. If you were to ask the Norwegian government about consumer safety, they would probably tell you that they are the best in the world, but in fact they are far behind other jurisdictions as all data and research points to an increase in problem gambling in Norway.

Considering if the new act will influence the country’s market scope expansion and redirect domestic players back to monopolies, in my opinion, if their goal is to redirect players back to their own controlled environment and expand in any way, it has already failed. We live in a world where anyone can trade and spend in crypto; a Norwegian can open bank accounts wherever they want in the world, as well as other endless options that put them in control. In short, this new act will not redirect players back to the monopolies, neither to Norsk Tipping or Norsk Rikstoto.

I hope Norway will realise that opening up our gambling industry will be a positive thing for the country, players, responsible gaming and of course keeping millions upon millions of tax revenue within its borders. The serious operators would be a great team to fight those unlicensed gambling sites which today operate with purely making money, laundering money and exploiting people on their minds.

Knut Beckstrom is head of operations at Frank & Fred Casino, an operator specialising in live casino games. His markets of expertise include the Nordics, in particular Norway, where he focuses on casino, VIP, retention and operations. Before entering the world of igaming, Beckstrom spent 12 years in account management at various Norwegian corporations including Norway’s biggest commercial TV channel, TV2.