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NORWAY
The Ministry for Culture and Church Affairs in Norway has imposed some of the world’s strictest rules on video gambling machines in a drive to reduce the number of compulsive gamblers.
Under the new regulations introduced last year, all gaming machines operated by Norsk Tipping AS, the Norwegian State-owned gaming company, are only accessible to pre-registered users via prepaid cards. ‘There will be limits on how much an individual can lose, they will be closed at night and there will be a cooling-off period after one hour of continuous play,’ said Trond Giske, Minister for Culture and Church Affairs.
The Government had grown increasingly concerned about the rising number of Norwegians reportedly addicted to gambling machines and banned all privately owned machines in July 2007 while it looked for ways of better regulating them.
Following the ban, the number of people telephoning a national gambling help line plunged from 2,276 in 2004 to 330 this year. The Government stated that the new terminals would be remote-controlled and strictly regulated to prevent people from developing a gambling problem. In addition, the machines will not take cash or credit cards and can only be used with a prepaid card sold by Norsk Tipping to registered players over the age of 18.
The system will also limit the amount that can be bet per game to ten dollars and set a loss limit of $80 per day and $440 per month per player even if they have more than one card. Source: IGaming Business and RGC-news
FINLAND
Gaming in Finland is organized as a national monopoly, and the gaming market is divided between three organizations.
RAY, The Slot Machine Association operates the Casino and casino table games, as well as slot machines. The revenue from RAY’s games goes to social and health care organizations. Veikkaus Oy, The Finnish National Lottery provides lotteries and betting, from which the proceeds are distributed to Finnish culture, arts, science, sports and youth work. Fintoto Oy runs pari-mutuel wagering, with the revenue being allocated to horse breeding, horse sports and trotting.
In Finland, there are two different age limits on gambling: 15 and 18 years. RAY, The Slot Machine Association, applies the limit of 18 years to the Casino and casino table games, as well as to slot machines in gaming arcades. For other slot machines, the limit is 15 years. For the games operated by Veikkaus Oy, there is a limit of 15 years for playing at the retail outlets, and a limit of 18 years for internet gaming.
Source Peluuri – the Finnish gambling helpline
DENMARK
In 2008 the Danish AWPs had a cash box of Euros 298m (which is a decline of 6.3 % compared with 2007) of which the Danish state received Euros 108m as taxes. Euros 21m were given to local charity (mainly sport clubs and youth clubs). Furthermore, Euros 2.9 million went to research and treatment of problem gambling. The remaining amount was typically split between AWP operators and site owners.
Like the rest of the world, Denmark and thus also the Danish AWP industry have been hit by the financial recession. October and November 2008 saw a decline of the income from AWPs of approx. 20 %. The annual accounts from operators show that mainly the large operators have difficulties keeping up their turnover. It is easier for the small local operator to adjust business to the turnover decline.
During the winter 2009, Danish trade body DAB expects the Danish Ministry of Taxation to put forward a new legislation on all types of gambling in Denmark. DAB expects that AWP laws will form part of the new legislation and has proposed a number of changes to the bill in case it is to be revised. DAB would like both stake and payout to be increase by 100 % in order to try to maintain market share compared with internet gambling.
Currently DAB is working on a project that will enable all 27,000 AWPs in Denmark to be updated via the internet. Software distributors keep releasing updates for the AWP programs but today it is difficult to implement these updates due to mechanical seals on the AWPs. Besides, resealing the AWP’s after software update constitutes a large cost. DAB proposes a new system so the programs can be updated without breaking the mechanical seal.
DAB will continue to demonstrate responsibility towards compulsive gamblers and has e.g. participated in a congress about problem gambling in Finland. In addition, the industry has opted to place signs with the phone number of a treatment hot line on all AWPs.
AWPs in Denmark are only permitted in alcohol licensed restaurants and approved arcades. All sites must have a license to operate AWPs. Each single machine must be approved by an authorised test institution. All machines in operation must be linked to a central monitoring system controlled by the Gaming Board.
SWEDEN
Swedish gambling is controlled by the state-owned Spenska Spel whose activities include betting at sporting events and dog racing, the operation of gaming machines and the organisation of lotteries.
Changes to The Lotteries Act in 1 August 2002, enabled SvenskaSpel to embrace digital platforms; with customers now able to play the instant scratch card games Triss, Tia, Skrap-Bingo and Skrap-Pyramid online.
In November 2005 the Swedish Government also granted Svenska Spel the right to introduce online poker in conjunction with the online gaming software provider Boss Media.
Svenska Spel’s monopoly has been challenged a number of times in the European courts, most notably by betting giant Ladbrokes. In June 2005, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court decided not to overturn a decision by the Swedish government to reject an application from Ladbrokes to be allowed to set up betting operations in Sweden.
Ladbrokes had previously tested Swedish law through launching an internet scratch card called “Trippel” designed to compete with Svenskaspel’s own scratch card “Triss”.
In January 2006, an official inquiry into the Sweden betting market, concluded that under Swedish law there is no realistic way of stopping offshore online betting companies from targeting Swedish consumers.
On 4 April 2006 the European Commission sent official requests for information on national legislation restricting the supply of sport betting services to seven Member States - Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Swedish politicians have appeared to shift away from maintaining the monopoly due to the pressure from the courts. Prior to the recent Swedish General Election, the leader of the victorious Moderate Party Fredrik Reinfeldt, stated that his party would consider getting rid of the current gambling monopoly and replacing it with a regulated betting market that allows private companies to apply for gaming licences.
When in June 2007 the European Commission formally requested France and Sweden to amend their gambling laws following consideration of their replies to letters of formal notice sent in April and October 2006, it was hoped this would finally effect change.
However, in August 2007, the Swedish Government surprised many observers, when it refused to bow to demands from the European Commission that it should throw open its betting market to non-Swedish companies. In its official response, to a Commission request of June 2007, the Swedish government said that while it has and will consider such demands, it has no intention to implementing changes to Sweden’s gambling laws. Moreover, the Swedish government went on to say that it sees those aspects of Swedish law that are deemed to be incompatibe with EU law, as actually being totally acceptable, in as much as they serve their stated purpose of strengthen social security and countering criminal activity’.
On October 27 2007, Sweden’s governing party, the Moderate Party voted at its annual conference in Gävle on Saturday to come out in favour of the liberalisation of the Swedish betting market; including the sale of Svenska Spel and ATG.
It was anticipated by many, that Sweden’s Ministry of Finance would announce on 15 December 2008, a new set of measures that would put an end to Svenska Spel’s monopoly of the Swedish betting market. Jan Nyren, the person responsible for the new plans, was said to have favoured an open door licensing system, that would see foreign betting operators enter the Swedish market for the first time.
However, when the time came for the Ministry to make its announcement, it was clear that there was nothing new on the table, as regards the Swedish Government’s position regarding the opening of its betting market to outside operators.
Source: Niall.A.O’Connor (2008) “Sweden’s gambling industry and the long road to liberalisation” (Bettingmarket.Com).
