Notwithstanding opposition within the government itself, Norway’s parliament approved a set of new measures and regulations concerning gambling on Monday May 7th, which had been proposed back in April by a coalition of opposition parties. None of these laws make gambling on unlicensed sites a crime for the individual player, but they do enhance Norway’s ability to impose penalties and punishments upon those who market the unlicensed services.

The standout feature amongst the new rules however, and the one grabbing the most headlines, is a plan in place to block the domain names of any international gambling sites which are licensed outside of Norway and in competition with the country’s monopolies on gambling provided by Norsk Tipping and Rikstoto. The vote secures a requirement upon the government to put in place legislation which will bring the new regulations into force, so there is a decent amount of political ground still to cover before they are actually in effect. Once in place, the Norwegian Gambling Authority (NGA) will have greater powers to penalise unlicensed operators for targeting residents with their products.

The article continues on the CDC Gaming Reports Inc website.