Norwegian Operator Norsk Tipping Sets Spending Limit For Players Who Win At Least $2,360 Per Month

Norsk Tipping, which oversees all gambling-related activity in this Nordic country, has taken a big step towards a more effective battle against gambling-related harm.

Becoming effective immediately, the operator has introduced a new limit on all further spending for gamblers who manage to rake in $2,360 or more during a single month. The official press release says that winnings of this amount will be paid directly into players’ bank accounts.

A Result of a Research

The decision to introduce this new rule came after research has been conducted...

...that has proven a tendency among players who have already won to go on spending even more. The research took a whole year and during this undertaking, the operator was studying players over the course of ten weeks – before and after they won big.

The results have shown that their losses have increased by 43% on average in weeks after the big win.

This percentage was way higher for players of high-frequency online games – online casino losses were circa 300% higher than before the win and 100% higher in case of live odds games.

It is estimated that the new limit will be of great use to approximately 10,000 Norsk Tipping players per year (from about two million on annual level).

Head of responsible gaming at Norway’s state-run regulatory body, Bjorn Helge Hoffman, comments:

“For large customers who play a lot and win often, this could probably be perceived as a disadvantage. Nevertheless, consequences for vulnerable players can be far more dramatic. The concern of the vulnerable players goes before the consideration of high players.”

A Decision That Divided Opinions

Back in August last year, Norsk brought forward a controversial plan to block users’ transactions to foreign operators.

This was met with scorn from the European Gaming and Betting Association who has urged Norway to implement a set of new gambling directives that would enable sites that don't have Norwegian license to provide service to its residents.

“From a consumer perspective, there are only two licensed gambling providers in Norway – both state-owned – and this is just not sustainable in an age when consumers can easily search around the internet for their preferred choice of gaming product,” said Maarten Haijer, AGBA's secretary general on the occasion.

A Deal With Playtech Gets Extended

Something that has been quite in favor of Norsk was the extension of the existing partnership deal with Playtech and its subsidiary and online brand, Videobet, which will continue to distribute its technology to the video lottery terminal for another ten years at least.

According to the terms of agreement...

...the alliance, which will thus reach a lifespan of 26 years, will lead to Videobet's VLT products being enjoyed in over 1,000 retail shops across the country.

Source:

“Norsk Tipping sets winnings spending limit”, igamingbusiness.com, April 12, 2019.