Norway appoints online gambling committee

Global law firm DLA Piper writes of a recent Norwegian Government-appointed committee that has been tasked to investigate the viability of repealing its gambling monopoly and opening up the market to a formal licensing process for domestic and foreign operators.

The news comes on the back of the Norwegian gambling authority Lotteritilsynet issuing cease and desist communications to a group of European operators identified to be offering their services to the Norwegian market (see previous report).

The authority alluded to the introduction of IP blocking and/or regional payment blocking directed at these operators, to which the EGBA swiftly responded saying it strongly opposed the proposal.

An evaluation of Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom’s regimes will reportedly be undertaken by the appointed Committee to weigh up the pros and cons of each regime.

The committee will also evaluate, amongst other topics, what the effects of an introduction of a formal licensing regime for lottery and real-money gaming operators would have on the incidence of gambling addiction.

In related news, Italian gambling authority AAMS has said it too will target illegal operators who face an immediate fine.

A proposal is thought to be moving through Italy’s parliamentary system that will require co-operation with Italian institutions and EU member states to stem tax losses attributed to illegal gambling. The proposal is based on a report titled “Report on Tax Evasion” from the country’s Finance Ministry.

It is estimated that illegal gambling costs Italy up to Euro 122 million annually in lost tax revenues, revealed the Italian Finance Ministry’s Pier Carlo Padoan .

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