As Norway grapples with unrest over a high-profile incident involving Internet gambling and a bishop's prodigal son, legislation that would disrupt electronic commerce between Norwegian residents and non-licensed I-gaming Web sites has been formally introduced for a vote in the country's legislature, the Storting.
"It was sent two weeks ago today to Parliament," Rolf Francis Sims, the legal adviser to Norway's Royal Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, told IGamingNews by telephone Friday. "There's been no significant action yet, as Parliament just convened yesterday after a holiday."
The proposal was introduced by Trond Giske, the outspoken head of the culture and church affairs ministry who, previously, played an instrumental role in upending the country's commercial slot-machine market.
Norway, a signatory of the Agreement on the European Economic Area with an 87.5 percent Internet penetration rate, has been a contentious battleground between commercial Internet gambling operators and the country's gambling monopolies, Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto.
While Norsk Tipping, which offers both games of chance and skill, and Norsk Rikstoto, which offers equine betting services, make available their terrestrial offerings remotely, under Norwegian law it is illegal for non-licensed operators to offer remote gambling services. Bolstering the barriers to entry, Norwegian law also prohibits all forms of marketing and advertising initiated by non-licensed operators.
Mr. Sims, who served as a gaming regulator with the Ministry of Justice and Police between 1998 and 2001, said that the services offered to Norwegian residents by unlicensed commercial operators have engendered serious political concern over the potential risks to public health.
Such risks were brought to the fore in a recent scandal involving Bjarte Baasland, the 34-year-old son of Ernst Baasland, who is the bishop of Stavangart Diocese. Mr. Baasland's wife, Bodhild Baasland, and their son, Bjarte, allegedly swindled diocese donors out of millions of Norwegian kronor, which were used to fund Bjarte's Internet gambling debts.
"Basically, at the moment, public opinion is very skeptical to gaming," Mr. Sims said. "A lot of questions are being asked about how a Norwegian citizen can actually sit at home, transfer money from his bank account to a foreign I-gaming company and place bet after bet after bet. People ask how this is possible -- ask how gambling companies can watch people lose huge amounts of money -- instead of actually going in and preventing the behavior and helping them. These are the questions the media has been asking."
Should Mr. Giske's proposal pass, however, the Norwegian media may abruptly receive an answer. For under the proposal, Norwegian banks and other financial institutions would be prohibited from facilitating payments between Norwegian gamblers and unlicensed Internet gambling operators.
Hypothetically, were a Norwegian financial or payments entity to contravene the proposed law, the Norwegian Gaming and Foundation Authority may issue orders for compliance and impose coercive fines payable to the government, Mr. Sims explained. The offending entity would, further, be given a deadline by which to bring its enterprise into compliance in order to avoid levying the fine. Contravention may also be subject to criminal prosecution.
"The legislative aims are to create an obstacle for remote gambling from Norway, strengthen national supervision of the domestic gaming market, limit evasion of Norwegian gaming law as interactive gaming, casinos and poker are prohibited in Norway," Mr. Sims said.
While the fate of Mr. Giske's proposed payments ban has yet to be determined, Mr. Sims said that it could fare well given Mr. Giske's own Labour Party, pursuant to the last election in 2005, holds 61 of 169 seats in the Storting. He said that an opposing party -- which he did not identify -- had also pledged to back the minister's proposal.
With regard to European Economic Area compliance, Mr. Sims said that the proposal was notified to the European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority, which later returned comments stating the proposed law was indeed non-compliant with EEA law. He said, however, that the proposal had not been amended in accordance with the authority's wishes.
Questions remain, however, as to whether the law has the teeth to achieve its stated aim of discouraging both Norwegian residents from gambling on the Internet and commercial operators from serving them. Significantly, the law covers Norwegian financial institutions, exclusively, meaning non-Norwegian payment processors are not on the hook.
While no case law yet exists assessing Norwegian financial institutions in relation to Internet gambling-related payments, Mr. Sims maintains several administrative decisions have indicated facilitating such payments constitutes unlawful accessory involvement in holding, and mediation of, gambling activities.
Click here to view a copy of Mr. Giske's proposal.