Many of you out there would have probably witnessed all of the recent publicity relating to the movement in America in support of online poker being made legal again and the dumping of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Despite this it appears that the country of Norway is making a move in the opposite direction, with much controversy arising due to the country moving closer towards a complete ban of internet gambling.
A piece of proposed legislation has been introduced into the Norwegian legal system by the Norwegian Minister for Culture and Church Affairs. This particular proposed piece of legislation would prevent financial institutions from processing transactions relating to online gambling operators as of next year. In turn, if this proposed legislation became law, it would be practically impossible for many online gambling companies to operate in the market.
The main momentum behind this legal movement has derived from a large expression of public concern resulting from a current and significant increase in the number of online gamblers existing within Norway. It is because of these large public outcries that laws for other areas of the gambling industry already exist, for example horse racing and lotteries are controlled via legislation. It is quite interesting to note that offshore gaming will be the main source of online gambling that faces severe impact, whereas state owned companies such as Norsk Tipping will remain basically untouched and continue to generate huge amounts of revenue as before.
The legislation proposal is subject to a period of public input and comment which will run up until February 2008, whereby the public can express their interests in order to secure a decision that will satisfy the larger majority of the country. After this point the situation will then be referred to Parliament and then it is expected that the legislation will become official during the spring term. Coincidentally, one of the world’s most famous and successful online players originates from Norway, Annette Obrestad.
The impact to professional players across Norway could be substantial, along with the additional impact on more recreational players of the sport at lower levels being potentially damaging to the games economy as a whole. The knock-on impact of a large majority of the online poker industry being shut down in Norway could signal great negativity, with many Norwegian poker sites facing complete closure and bankruptcy. One of Norway’s strongest points of defence against the introduction of this legislation will be that it is a member of the ‘Free Trade Area’ agreement, whereby a number of countries have agreed to eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on most of the goods traded between them.
