Norway Surveys Banks As It Looks To Bolster Payment Blocking

However, Carl Fredrik Stenstrøm, the secretary-general of the trade body representing Norway’s grey market online operators (NBO), told VIXIO GamblingCompliance that the regulator has unsuccessfully enforced the payment blocking ban for more than ten years and problem gambling rates are increasing.

NBOs Generalsekretær intervjues av Harrison Sayers i Gambling Compliance 18. juni 2020

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According to a study by the University of Bergen, an estimated 55,000 Norwegians, representing 1.5 percent of the population, are classified as “problem gamblers”, compared with a 2015 study which classified 0.9 percent, or 34,000.

Stenstrøm argues Norway must re-regulate if it intends to tackle problem gambling rates by providing consumers with “the proper tools to be able to self-exclude” and striking a “balance between market attractiveness and responsible play”.

The NBO head said responsible gambling tools such as loss limits implemented by Norsk Tipping are less effective than national self-exclusion programmes, such as Sweden’s Spelpaus.

He added: “Players do not follow borders anymore and neither do the products they play on.”