Te monopoly is decreasingly able to fulfil their mission statement. Te increase of gambling related problems
among young men especially is worrying, and more and more young people end up on the outside of society
because they cannot afford to participate in culture or sports. Teir social arenas are diminishing, fast, and this development cannot be accepted.
THE WINDS OF CHANGE
For a long time, the only major political party that supported a proper regulation of the online gambling market in Norway was the Progress Party. But they have never been in a position to dictate policy on the matter, and any regulation-attempts thus far have been futile. Now, however, they have received clear support from the Liberal Party, and the Conservative Party is also having a major internal debate about whether they should take a new position on the matter. If the latter does it, there are high hopes for a majority in favour of a license model after the general election in September.
THE BURSTING DIKE
In the Netherlands there is a famous story about a boy who saves his village by putting his finger in a damaged dike, holding it there until the rest of the villagers come to help and repair it. It may seem that Norwegian politicians have drawn inspiration from this story in their work to develop the regulations related to online gambling in Norway. For over 20 years, they have stood there with their finger in the proverbial dike, waiting for a magical solution to fix their problems.
Te Norwegian authorities have really tried it all to stop the leakage. A ban on payment solutions, a ban on marketing and they are currently trying to implement a DNS-blocking of foreign gambling sites, among other things. But so far, nothing has worked. Te dike is still leaking, problems related to gambling are still much higher than comparable countries, and the funding of culture and sports is declining.
As opposed to the Dutch boy, there are no villagers that are coming to help, and no ban, oppressive regulation or information campaign has worked. But most politicians have so far closed their eyes to the realities of the matter and refused to realise that it is time for a new approach.
Until now. And there is good reason for the sudden change in opinion.
As mentioned, the monopoly is decreasingly able to fulfil their mission statement. Te increase of gambling related problems among young men especially is worrying, and more and more young people end up on the outside of society because they cannot afford to participate in culture or sports. Teir social arenas are diminishing, fast, and this development cannot be accepted.
When we couple these realities with the fact that well- regulated markets experience a lower degree of gambling-related problems, and that all independent studies conclude that a licensing model will increase the funding of sport and culture, solution-oriented politicians are now looking at the possibilities of using the increased room to operate to bring about change in the current policy.
Te Norwegian Industry Association for Online Gaming have high hopes for the future of the Norwegian gaming market. If we see a change in government in September, we are hopeful that a change in regulation of the online gaming market will follow. But as with everything else in life, nothing is for certain yet. Te only thing we can be certain of, is that a change is coming at one point or another, and we have never been as close as we are now.
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