Casino types
Like many countries in Europe, Norwegians love to gamble; however, its citizens are subject to some of the strictest online licensing regulations in Europe, if not the world. This is demonstrated by the fact there are no land-based casinos in the country.
Such is the stringency of online gambling regulations that Norwegian banks and payment providers are not officially allowed to process payments for gambling online.
Only two companies operate under the license of the Norwegian Gaming Foundation-Authority; these are Norsk Rikstoto and Norsk Tipping. That means they have exclusive rights to any online gambling activities within the country, including online casinos. Norsk Rikstoto is concerned mainly with horse racing. At the same time, Norsk Tipping deals with the lottery, scratch card games, poker, sports betting, and online casino games.
Norwegians are able to use online casinos operated in overseas countries. This is something that has become increasingly popular, with reports showing that as much as 50% of the money generated by Norwegians playing online casinos goes to operators in foreign countries.
There are changes afoot with the Government taking swift action as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, which caused an increase in online gambling, including at online casinos, of in excess of 60%. As a result, the new gambling act was adopted in late 2021.
