Blocking Illegal Gambling Sites Will Prevent Gambling Problems

OSLO, Norway (April 13, 2023) — The Norwegian Government is in favour of DNS blocking the websites of illegal gambling companies. – This will protect Norwegian players, says Henrik Nordal of the Norwegian Lottery Authority.

From January 2024, DNS blocking of websites that offer illegal gambling in Norway will probably take place.

This means that the internet provider stops you if you try to access such a website.

– DNS blocking makes the riskiest gambling games less available and thus protects Norwegian players, says Nordal.

The illegal gambling companies offer aggressive money games where you can lose a lot of money in a short time.

55,000 Norwegians have a gambling problem, and 122,000 are at risk of developing it,shows a population survey from 2019. Problem gambling costs society over five billion kroner a year.

Many gambles without knowing the risks

It is also the case that 5 out of 10 Norwegians do not know or are unsure about who is allowed to offer gambling.

– It also means that many people are not aware of the risk of playing with illegal gambling companies. With DNS blocking, the players will be notified and stopped when they are on their way to such a money game. This is an effective information measure that will also have a preventive effect.

Illegal gambling advertising is gone from Norwegian TV screens and more and more banks are stopping betting and profit due to the payment intermediary ban.

– We are getting more and more tools, and collectively we see that this has a good effect. We have advocated introducing DNS blocking as soon as possible because it is a good measure.

Several supervisory cases

Those companies that do not withdraw from Norway will experience DNS blocking of their websites when new regulations come into force in 2024.

In the time until we get DNS blocking in place, the Norwegian Lottery Authority will institute several supervisory cases against illegal gaming companies, and decide that they must stop their activity in Norway followed by compulsory fines, as we have done with the Unibet company Tranneland The Betsson company BML.

“We will give this work a high priority. When it concerns companies that intend to withdraw from Norway and have implemented measures that show that it is real, we will prioritize guidance overreaction and DNS blocking,” says Nordal.

SOURCE: The Norwegian Lottery and Foundation Authority