The government in Norway has introduced legislation that will see unlicensed online gambling websites prohibited from operating in the local market.
The legislative move will take the form of an amendment to the Gambling Act. The amendment was proposed on Friday and approved by the government cabinet on the same day. The move follows a two-year long consultation period on the viability of DNS (domain name system) blocking.
Speaking of the new amendment, Minister for Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery said:
“We do this primarily to prevent and limit gambling problems and to look after vulnerable players and their relatives. If the foreign gambling companies had followed Norwegian law, this would not have been imposed on the internet providers. Therefore, we have to regulate this by targeting actors over whom we have jurisdiction.”
Moves to Oust Illegal Gambling Operators Gather Pace
In April of this year, Norway’s gambling regulator announced that was granted powers to block domain name servers of online casinos that are unlicensed to operate in the country.
At that time, the regulator stated that it had started plans to launch a major blocking campaign in 2024 that would target unlicensed gambling websites that allow players from Norway to access their products and services.
The government’s move to amend the Gambling Act now paves the way for that campaign to begin as soon as possible.
In September, the regulator informed nine banks that it will begin a review to ensure that the ban on interacting with illegal gambling companies is being enforced.
Last week online poker site PokerStars announced its exit from Norway, following in the footsteps of other industry players such as bet365, Kindred, ComeOn, and Betsson.
Gambling industry journalist with a background in online poker and trading. Covering the regulated U.S Sports industry and the exciting world of online poker.