Norway is in the middle of a debate about the future direction of its local gaming sector. There is ongoing discussion about whether the market should be liberalized. Meanwhile, the number of overseas companies targeting Norway’s strictly regulated gaming market is falling.
The gambling regulator of Norway, Lottslift says that the number of people betting with Norsk Tipping. It is a state-owned lottery and sports betting company of Norway increased from 1.8 million in 2023 to two million in 2024.
Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto, the latter of which runs horse racing betting, saw turnover rise from NKr2bn (£143 million) to NKr3bn (£222.9 million). In contrast, the number of customers gaming with unlicensed overseas firms has dropped. The regulator credits this decline to the success of some of its aggressive measures.
Lottstift figures suggest that around 3.8% of Norwegians, or about 169,000 people, bet with an offshore firm in 2024. Another 4.6% told the regulator they had placed offshore bets in the past three months. Additionally, 6% said they had bet with an offshore firm at some point during 2024.
Director of Norwegian Lottery Authority, Tore Bell said that the foreign market is getting smaller year by year.
They see that the number of players at the exclusive operators is increasing and that their turnover on games in competition with the foreign operators is increasing.
In addition to the foreign market shrinking, more and more people are saying that they played Norwegian games last time they played, and they play Norwegian games the most.
As with many other regulated gaming jurisdictions, however particularly those in the Nordics of late, channelization rates. These figures refer to the number of players gaming in the regulated market rather than the unregulated one. This is of great importance to Lottstift.
The channelization rate looks positive for Norway, as the above figures show. Lottstift and the government have implemented several measures aimed at reducing overseas gaming traffic entering the country.
