Norwegian authorities are taking new measures to fight agains illegal gambling operators

The Norwegian gambling regulator Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet (Lotteritilsynet) continues to toughly fight online gambling operators that illegally serve local players.

This weekend, Lotteritilsynet unveiled details of its campaign against illegal online gambling. The gambling regulator said that it ordered all Norwegian licensed banks to block payment transactions that were sent to gambling operators.

The Times of Malta publication reports that the Lotteritilsynet toughened directive is directed directly to six operators licensed in Malta - Betsson AB, Gaming Innovation Group (GiG), Kindred Group, L & L Entertainment, Dino Gaming Ltd and Co-Gaming LTD.

In addition to restricting payments, Lotteritilsynet representatives demanded that Malta’s gambling regulator take action against their licensees violating gambling laws of jurisdiction.

In 2018, Lotteritilsynet received a task from the Norwegian multi-party coalition. As a regulatory body, he was granted the right to control national banking operations, as well as to protect the clients of the state gambling operator Norsk Tipping.

For new restrictions, Lotteritilsynet officially received a reprimand from the European Gambling and Betting Association (EGBA), which filed a complaint demanding that the Norwegian Data Protection Inspectorate (DPI) investigate whether Lotteritilsynet does not violate payment locking schemes for protecting user privacy.

In addition, the closure in 2018 of Stockholm-registered Kindred Group Plc, one of the operators affected by Lotteritilsynet, led to the filing of a lawsuit against the regulator in the Oslo Supreme Court.

As part of the litigation, Kindred accuses Lotteritilsynet of violating regulatory requirements for its business services, including blocking payment transfers, and also banning the inclusion of Kindred applications in the Apple App Store for Scandinavian customers.