The government of Norway is planning new methods that will strengthen restriction of online gambling payment processing to help limit the competition of the state-owned Norsk Tipping gambling monopoly.
Gambling in Norway is heavily regulated and its provision is restricted to only government-owned agencies. Playing poker for money is not permitted, whether this is live, online, or in private homes. Currently, there is no legal means to play poker in Norway. However, there is a bill that aims to relax the law to allow home games to be played legally as long as it is not run as a business.
Despite having a bill before legislature seeking to relax gambling laws, Norway's stance against online gambling is firm. The Norwegian Gaming Authority started a consultation process that proposes increased restrictions over internationally licensed gambling operators that targets local players. As of now, local financial institutions are required to block transactions that involve unauthorized gambling operators.
Preventing local banking institutions from processing online gambling payments is nothing new for the Norwegian Gaming Authority. However, due to certain loopholes within the restriction, the regulator is seeking increased control and power to compel banks into stopping deals made with certain names instead of simply just blocking account numbers. According to the NGA, even with the restriction requirement, Norwegians collectively transact up to 40k daily with international gambling sites.
The increased restriction on gambling curbs has been favored by the committee as the proposed strengthening of gambling rules has gotten a six of eight committee votes. The new measures will be adopted formally on May 7 by parliament.
Among the measures that will be granted to the regulator will be the authority to investigate companies that provides advertising and marketing of unapproved gambling products, as well as the imposition of penalties on businesses that violate these rules.
Another approved measure is the blocking of DNS of unauthorized international sites that serves Norwegian punters. The blocking of DNS will caution punters that they are attempting access to a site that does not operate under local authority. Nevertheless, this warning will not prevent the user from accessing the site should they choose to continue.
Source:
https://calvinayre.com/2018/04/24/business/norway-restrict-payments-gambling-sites/
http://www.pokerlaws.org/europe/norway