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Nordic Market is the New Online Gaming Frontier
Nordic Market is the New Online Gambling Frontier
From Sweden’s Minecraft and Battlefield to Finland’s infamous titles like Clash of Clans and Angry Birds, the Nordic region has emerged as the nucleus of the video game development.
In spite of this fact, gambling has for a long time been shrouded with heavy regulations and restrictions. But things are gradually changing with Denmark and Sweden leading the way.
The Market Outlook
Although most of the Nordic countries restrict international companies from operating locally, the laws are not strictly enforced. As such, Norsemen can register on EU-based online platforms to carry on with their gambling activities.
There are no legal ramifications on the players for betting on international platforms. The law focuses on the providers, not the players. And of course, the legal actions don't apply to offshore companies that manage to pass the national firewall.
Online Casino in Sweden is experiencing a strong surge. According to the Swedish Gambling Authority 2016 report, online gambling accounts for 38 percent of gambling revenues. That is well above the EU’s average of 18 percent, and only trails Ireland and Denmark in the region.
There’s a huge gambling market in the region. In its report of the 2016 gambling activity in Nordic countries, H2 Gambling Capital puts the annual average betting expenditure per person at $390, $320, $300 and $485 in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland respectively.
The Latest legislation
With the advent of cryptocurrencies, which has locked out the government out of controlling the money transfers, the taxman and state-owned monopolies are being cut out of important revenues. Together with increasing pressure from the EU on open trade, these countries are forced to relook at their legislations.
Denmark has already done so. It first permitted international operators in 2012, but it’s the amendments which came into effect on January 2016 that has changed the market landscape. The changes legalized betting on fantasy sports and redefined licensing procedures.
The wave of change has also swept across Sweden, which recently ceded ground to allow private online casino operators. Until this latest development, Sweden’s state-owned Svenska Spel was the only local gambling operator. Even so, the Svenska Spel still holds a huge chunk of the local market share.
State-owned monopolies
However, not all the Nordic countries are single-minded about online casinos. Norway and Finland, continue to keep a regime of state-owned monopoly in this industry.
Norway is not a member of the EU and is, therefore, free from the legislation of the alliance. It continues the state-owned monopoly through Norsk Rikstoto and Norsk Tipping as the only operators.
The same cannot be said of Finland, which is under immense pressure to open up its gambling market. Finland joined the EU in 1995. Its gaming market has three State-controlled operators namely RAY company that operates casinos and slot machines, Veikkaus Oy that operates State lotteries and sports betting, and Fintoto Oy operating Horserace betting.
State monopoly in the gambling industry in Nordic countries is slowly dissipating as online gambling is increasingly becoming popular among players. And with the EU pushing for equal rights for all the gambling operators, the Nordic governments are forced to change tact open up their gambling markets to international operators.
by SilverBuddy on 2020-03-30 09:29:09