Norway’s Lottery Board, Lotterinemnda, has upheld a ban imposed on online gambling operator Kindred Group to target Norwegian gamblers.
Lotterinemnda is an independent agency under Norway’s Ministry of Culture that is tasked with ruling on various gambling-related complaints.
The body recently rejected Kindred’s appeal against a ruling issued by the Norwegian gambling regulator, Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet, in the spring of 2019. Last year, the regulator ordered Kindred to cease servicing Norwegian customers as it was not authorized to provide gambling services on the territory of the country.
Under Norway’s current gambling law, the state-run operators Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto are the only entities licensed to operate in the country.
Unlike its neighbor Sweden which reorganized its market last year and opened it to international operators, Norway has been clinging to the monopoly model, with lawmakers maintaining that it is the only regulatory regime that can effectively protect gamblers from addiction and other gambling-related problems.
However, despite the rules, international operators have long been targeting Norwegian players and it could be said that the country has a very profitable unregulated market.
Kindred’s Ban
In a ruling from last year, Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet ordered Kindred to stop providing gambling services to Norwegian customers. The regulator found that the Malta-based operator was servicing players through multiple brands, including Unibet, Maria Casino, Storspiller, and BingoLottstift.
It also noted in its ruling that Kindred’s websites could be viewed in Norwegian language, offered deposits and bonuses in Norwegian currency, and featured Norwegian-language customer support.
The gambling operator was further slammed for advertising its products on Norwegian TV channels that aired in the country but were broadcast from other countries as well as for using local brand ambassadors, local press release services, and Norwegian social media channels.
Kindred’s ban was issued after Norway’s gambling regulator rolled out payment-blocking orders on the company’s sites and on sites managed by five other gambling operators.
Kindred said last year that it would appeal Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet’s ruling to the Ministry of Culture and Lotterinemnda.
Ministry, Board Uphold Ban
Norway’s Ministry of Culture rejected the operator’s appeal this past January. On Thursday, Lotterinemnda also upheld the Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet-issued ban.
Trude Felde, Senior Adviser of Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet, commented that the decision represented “an important confirmation that we interpret regulations correctly” and that it reaffirmed that action should always be taken against offshore gambling operators that have created offering that explicitly targets players and bettors in Norway.
The operator has not commented on the latest ruling. Kindred previously argued that Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet’s authority did not extend to making decisions against services that are offered from outside Norway and that by trying to ban its operations, the regulator was interfering with Malta’s sovereignty.
The operator also pointed out that Norsk Tipping’s monopoly over online gaming and lotteries violated rules for the free movement of services.
Ms. Felde said Thursday that they are now going to ask Kindred whether it would comply with the Lotterinemnda ruling. The company was previously told that Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet could eventually order local Internet service providers to block all its Norway-facing domains.
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