SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The number of overseas companies targeting Norway’s strictly related gaming market is falling, amid a debate regarding the future direction of the local sector and whether it should liberalise.
According to the latest figures from Lottstift, Norway’s gambling regulator, the number of people betting with Norsk Tipping – Norway’s state-owned lottery and sports betting company – increased from 1.8 million in 2023 to two million in 2024.
Turnover for Norsk Tipping and Norisk Rikstoto, the latter of which runs horse racing betting in the country, subsequently rose from NKr2bn (£143m) to NKr3bn (£222.9m). In contrast, the number of customers gaming with unlicensed overseas firms has dropped, attributed by the regulator to the success of some of its combative measures.
Lottstift’s figures suggest that around 3.8% of Norwegians bet with an offshore firm in 2024, equating to about 169,000 people. A further 4.6% of people told the regulator that they had bet with an offshore firm in the last three months, and 6% at some point in the past year.
Estimates around market share put the portion of the Norwegian market held by offshore firms at between 22-28%, down from 29-35% in 2023. Estimated turnover for offshore firms also subsequently fell from around NKr 1.6bn in 2023 to between NKr1.1bn-1.5bn in 2024.
“The foreign market is getting smaller year by year,” said Tore Bell, Director of the Norwegian Lottery Authority.
“We see that the number of players at the exclusive operators is increasing and that their turnover on games in competition with the foreign operators is increasing.
“In addition to the foreign market shrinking, more and more people are saying that they played Norwegian games last time they played, and they play Norwegian games the most.”
Channeling progressing but concerns remain
As with many other regulated gaming jurisdictions, but particularly those in the Nordics of late, channelisation rates – referring to the number of players gaming with the regulated market as opposed to the unregulated – is of great importance to Lottstift.
As the above figures show, the channelisation rate appears positive for Norway, with Lottstift and the government having implemented a number of measures aimed at curbing overseas gaming traffic heading into the country.
A ban on TV advertising has now been fully implemented. This applies only to overseas TV channels, which can no longer include adverts for gaming firms which may be licensed in their home country but not in Norway.
This has been cited as one of the most significant preventative measures, while other efforts in the media sphere have seen dialogue with Big Tech firms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Apple, Google and Twitch.
Another efficient measure is payment blocking, according to Lottstift, with the regulator’s latest report citing this as the most effective tool overall due to making it harder for Norwegian customers to make deposits with overseas firms. This has led to both gaming firms and the payment companies which service them to cease targeting Norway, Lottstift states.
“The side effect of good channeling is that the exclusive operators get more players,” Bell continued. “We note that many in the youngest group of players have the playing habits of experienced players. They play the games with the highest risk.
“We believe that Norsk Tipping must make casino games, online computer games, less risky and accessible to young players between the ages of 18-25. Here, the company must work very proactively to reduce the extent of gambling in this age group.”
Regardless of this progress, however, conversations around the need for Norway to modernise its gaming framework remain. Norway is one of the only remaining gaming monopolies in Europe, alongside Finland – though the latter is looking to move on from this. Pressure is now mounting on Norway, both internally and externally, to do the same.
