Gambling in Norway has always come under a good deal of scrutiny. A hard-working Protestant ethic in a country located somewhat out on a limb, with the tough terrain and climate to match, seems to have bred a society where getting ‘something for nothing’ doesn’t sit well. This is in stark contrast with the buccaneering, expansive mentality that has been the driving force behind Las Vegas, Macau and the rest of the world’s top gaming spots. As far back as 1902, when Norway was still under Swedish rule, the Norwegian Penal Code expressly forbade gambling games which weren’t specially licensed.
A little history
Nonetheless, people have leisure time and in a free country some of them are going to want to have some fun with that, so way back in 1948 Norsk Tipping (which roughly translates as ‘Norwegian Betting’) came into being. Since the outset it has been under the control of the Norwegian government, perhaps ironically under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs!
Football Pools were its first area of activity – British companies dealing in football pools had previously attempted to penetrate the Norwegian market as early as the 1930s. The enterprise continued to grow to encompass other types of sports betting including horse racing (Norsk Tipping’s sister organization Norsk Rikstoto was founded in 1982), Slots (1990) and a National Lottery (1995) as well as online betting (NorskeSpill), with the advent of the internet age.
Social reponsibility
One aspect of Norsk Tipping’s activities which perhaps sets it apart is that it places a high emphasis on social responsibility. But what does ‘social responsibility’ mean exactly? Norsk Tipping defines it on its website, albeit rather vaguely, as ‘running our operations in a manner that meets environmental, ethical, commercial, legal and social expectations from society’. In this way, and adjusted to today’s prices, Norsk Tipping has donated some NOK85bn to worthy causes since 1948.
Norsk Tipping have continued this ethos to the present day, banning slot machines in 2007. Prior to that, slot revenues had grown from NOK9bn in 2001 to NOK26bn just 3 years later, so it must have been a bitter pill to swallow. Slots did made a comeback in a restricted form in 2009 with video IVTs, which require a player card in order to play. Furthermore, deposits to this card are capped at US $70 per day and US $385 per month, and individuals’ own further, discretionary capping on what they spend (the so called ‘pre-commitment’ approach) is encouraged.
These measures are hardly an over-zealous, knee-jerk reaction however – in 1999 the nation’s per person betting was the 3rd highest in Europe behind Spain and Italy, and problem gambling was enough of an issue to knock some of the glitter off the benefits Norsk Tipping brought to society.
Furthermore, since 2010 it has been illegal to make payments to online casinos based outside Norway (ie. anything which is not Norsk Tipping); UK betting magnate William Hill had earlier tried unsuccessfully to enter the Norwegian market, echoing the failed attempts of its football pools forbears decades before.
In July 2012 Norsk Tipping undertook a plan of action to police for match-fixing in close cooperation with the Norwegian Government and the Norwegian Football Federation following a match-fixing scandal in the Norwegian second division coming to light.
A closed market but open to the world
It should be pointed out that the closed nature of Norway’s betting market needn’t necessarily mean that foreign companies are wholly barred from access, for instance in providing gaming or payment software. Indeed in December 2012 Norsk Tipping signed an agreement with Italian gaming software manufacturer Spielo G2, part of Gruppo Lottomatica, to provide exclusive iGaming content.
Norway has of course stayed out of the EU, being caught up in the French veto of UK membership in 1962 and narrowly rejecting membership itself in the referenda of 1972 and 1994, and it is as free to pursue its own interests in the gaming arena as much as in any other sector. It will be interesting to see if this model gets adopted elsewhere and with the degree of same success. Perhaps it really is the future of betting.
