Norway Progress Party MP reiterates calls to end gambling monopoly ahead of election
Norway Progress Party MP Silje Hjemdal has reiterated the party’s desire to end the country’s gambling monopoly and is looking to its Nordic neighbours for inspiration.
The Progress Party has been calling for an end to the gambling monopoly in Norway since its 2021 election manifesto. With the next general election scheduled for 8 September, Hjemdal has reaffirmed her party’s plans to make significant changes to the current framework.
Speaking at a May conference held by Norway trade body Norsk Bransjeforening for Onlinespill, family and culture committee member Hjemdal pointed to fellow Nordic nations Finland, Sweden and Denmark as remote gambling frameworks to learn from.
However, she told the audience the party is not yet sure which model Norway would follow.
“I haven’t landed on a concrete model, but I think what’s happening in Denmark is very exciting.
And I’d gladly take a study trip there to learn more,” she said during the conference.
“We are one of very, very few countries left that have this [remote gambling] model,” Hjemdal said.
“We must regulate better, and the way the model is today, there are actually very large sums of money that are sent out of the country every year, without going back to Norwegian sports or culture.”
Norsk Tipping under pressure
Under current regulations in Norway, gambling is only legally provided by state monopolies Norsk Tipping and Norsk Ristroto, which offer online gambling, sports betting, horse racing, lottery and physical slots.
Norsk Tipping has faced a number of regulatory setbacks of late, including an investigation by the Norwegian Gambling Authority (Lotteritilsynet) after it received a tip-off that a minor had transferred funds to the operator.
Meanwhile in February, Lotteritilsynet announced Norsk Tipping was facing a fine of up to NOK36 million ($3.2 million) for preventing players from self-excluding.
In Hjemdal’s view, Norsk Tipping is failing to live up to its role as a monopoly organisation, again reaffirming the need for an open market.
“There’s a narrative that Norsk Tipping is the safest, the best, the most thoughtful and that it doesn’t make mistakes,” Hjemdal continued. “But they’ve been caught time and time and time again.
“Now, admittedly, they have to pay a lot for it. But fortunately, we also have journalists in the country’s major newspapers who really dare to address this. And I think that’s good, because we also need the media to seize these issues.”
Conservative Party support for an open market in Norway
As well as Hjemdal’s Progress Party, the Conservative Party is also in favour of ending Norway’s gambling monopoly.
It too called for the monopoly to be eliminated in its latest manifesto, launched in September last year.
This is the closest Norway has been to liberalising its remote gambling sector, NBO chief Carl Stenstrøm told iGB in September.
Based on the increased political support from both parties and the influence they could have following September’s general election, he believes the market could be opened by 2028.
Norway is the final country in Scandinavia to maintain a gambling monopoly and nearby Finland is currently in the process of liberalising its market, which also helped spark political interest in Norway for new regulation.