Is online gambling legal in Norway?
Norway is one of the last full gambling monopolies in Europe. The Gambling Act (pengespilloven) of 18 March 2022, in force since 1 January 2023, gives state-owned Norsk Tipping the exclusive right to lotteries, sports betting and online casino games and Norsk Rikstoto the exclusive right to horse-race betting; other organizations may only run small lotteries and bingo for good causes. There is no licensing route for commercial operators, banks must stop payments to and from unauthorized operators, and Lotteritilsynet has DNS-blocked 238 websites since that power took effect in January 2025. The Labour-led government re-elected in September 2025 defends the model; the opposition Progress Party wants a licensing system.
| Vertical | Status in Norway |
|---|---|
| Online casino | Monopoly |
| Sports betting | Monopoly |
| Online poker | Restricted |
| Lottery | Monopoly |
| Social casino (free to play) | Permitted |
State monopoly: A state or single licensee runs online gambling; private operators cannot be licensed.
Who regulates gambling in Norway?
- Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet (Norwegian Gambling and Foundation Authority) (Lotteritilsynet) — Supervises Norsk Tipping, Norsk Rikstoto and lottery and bingo permits, enforces payment and DNS blocking, and distributes gambling surplus to civil society
- Kultur- og likestillingsdepartementet (Ministry of Culture and Equality) (KUD) — Owns gambling policy, the Gambling Act and its regulations; sole shareholder of Norsk Tipping
Norway gambling licence: how it works
No licence is available to commercial gambling operators. Under sections 4 to 6 of the Gambling Act, games that need special public control because of high prizes, high turnover or high risk are reserved to Norsk Tipping AS, wholly owned by the state, and to the holder of the horse-race betting licence, the foundation Norsk Rikstoto. Non-profit organizations may apply to Lotteritilsynet for permits to run lotteries and bingo with limited turnover and prizes, and games with turnover up to NOK 200,000 a year for non-profit purposes need no permit but may not run on digital platforms. Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto may not offer or market games on behalf of others, so there is no partner route either.
What an applicant needs
- Commercial operators: no application route exists; offering or marketing gambling to Norway without Norwegian authorization is unlawful
- Non-profit lotteries and bingo: permit from Lotteritilsynet with turnover and prize caps, an 18+ age limit and reporting duties
- Payment service providers: obligation to refuse transactions to and from unauthorized gambling operators
- Internet service providers: obligation to implement DNS blocking orders issued by Lotteritilsynet since 1 January 2025
Gambling taxes in Norway
- Operators: No gambling tax on private operators because none can be licensed. Norsk Tipping's surplus is distributed by law: at least 0.5% to problem-gambling measures, then 64% to sport, 18% to culture and 18% to humanitarian organizations; Norsk Rikstoto's surplus funds the equine sector.
- Players: Winnings from Norsk Tipping, Norsk Rikstoto and other Norwegian non-profit games are tax-free. Incidental winnings above NOK 10,000 from other sources, including foreign operators, are taxed at 22% under section 5-50 of the Taxation Act unless the game is a comparable, publicly supervised non-profit game in another EEA state.
- Also: In 2025 Lotteritilsynet distributed nearly NOK 4.8 billion to voluntary organizations, including NOK 1.2 billion of Norsk Tipping's surplus to 47 humanitarian bodies.
Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments
Advertising
Only the exclusive-right operators and permit holders may market gambling in Norway, and only as far as needed to channel players to the legal offer. Advertising for unauthorized gambling is prohibited; since 2021 the Media Authority can order TV distributors to stop foreign gambling advertising directed at Norway, and Lotteritilsynet promotes a 'Tillatt i Norge' (permitted in Norway) mark so players can recognize legal operators.
Responsible gaming
All Norsk Tipping play is registered and subject to absolute loss limits: NOK 20,000 a month for players aged 25 and over, with lower caps of NOK 2,000 (18 to 19), NOK 3,000 (20 to 21) and NOK 5,000 (22 to 24), the latter two introduced on 1 February 2025, and a NOK 5,000 monthly cap on fast online games such as KongKasino. Players set time limits before high-risk games and can pause or exclude themselves. In 2025 Lotteritilsynet fined Norsk Tipping NOK 36 million for a defect that blocked self-exclusion in its iOS app for four months and NOK 117 million more across four cases, including Eurojackpot and Lotto draw errors.
Identity and age verification
Gambling is 18+. Norsk Tipping requires a registered player card or app account tied to the national ID, and both exclusive operators are obliged entities under the AML Act; 2025 inspections found deviations at both and led to fines of NOK 1 million and NOK 2 million.
Payments
Since 2010 Norwegian banks and payment institutions must block deposits to and payouts from operators without Norwegian authorization, and Lotteritilsynet can name specific accounts and companies to block. Norsk Tipping accepts Vipps, bank cards and bank transfers. DNS blocking has complemented payment blocking since 1 January 2025; a regulation on how blocking decisions weigh privacy and freedom of information was consulted in 2026 for entry into force on 1 August 2026.
Notable restrictions
- Exclusive rights for Norsk Tipping (lottery, sports betting, online casino, bingo) and Norsk Rikstoto (horse racing)
- Payment blocking of unauthorized operators since 2010, DNS blocking since 2025
- Absolute monthly loss limits with lower caps for players under 25
- Marketing of foreign gambling prohibited, including on TV distributed in Norway
- Poker limited to one licensed annual championship and private home games; no online poker from the exclusive operator
Norway iGaming market: size, players and payments
No reliable public estimate covers unlicensed play. Lotteritilsynet puts Norsk Tipping's share of the Norwegian market at 78% and Norsk Rikstoto's at 8% (2023 measurement), with the remainder going to operators without Norwegian authorization.
Lotteritilsynet's helpline reports that 65% of 2025 calls concerned only a foreign operator and that a foreign operator featured in 90% of calls about casino, odds and poker.
Norsk Tipping's app is the main channel for registered play and hosts the loss and time limits; the regulator does not publish a mobile share.
Two exclusive-right operators plus non-profit lottery concepts, which Lotteritilsynet re-tendered in 2025 for nine-year permits from February 2026. Kindred's Trannel withdrew from Norway in 2023 after coercive fines, and 238 websites had been DNS-blocked by early 2026.
Timeline: how Norway got here
- 2010-02Regulation prohibits payment processing for gambling without Norwegian authorization
- 2021Broadcasting Act amendment lets the Media Authority stop foreign gambling ads on TV distributed in Norway
- 2023-01New Gambling Act enters into force, merging three earlier acts and confirming the exclusive-rights model
- 2024-05Storting adopts DNS-blocking powers for Lotteritilsynet on 14 May
- 2025-01DNS blocking in force from 1 January; 238 sites blocked in 2025 and early 2026
- 2025-09Labour-led government re-elected and retains the monopoly; Progress Party campaigns for a licensing model
- 2026-06Ministry consults on a DNS-blocking regulation intended to apply from 1 August 2026
Outlook
No licensing bill is before the Storting as of September 2026; the government's program is to strengthen the monopoly with DNS blocking, payment blocking and external testing of Norsk Tipping's lottery draws after the 2025 failures. The Progress Party has said a licensing model would be its top cultural-policy priority if it enters government after the 2029 election, so the debate will continue, but nothing changes the legal position in the near term.
GameBridge and Norway
Not served by GameBridge. Norwegian law reserves online casino and betting to Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto and treats offering or marketing gambling to Norway without authorization as unlawful, so GameBridge brands exclude Norway by default.
Norway is on GameBridge's default exclusion geo list for every brand, whichever licence the brand operates under, and the platform's country controls block registration, deposits and play from Norwegian IP addresses, addresses and identity documents. Norwegian is not offered as a site language and NOK is not configured as a player wallet currency. This page exists so that compliance teams can verify Norway's status quickly and cite the primary sources; if Norway adopts a licensing model, GameBridge would support licence holders under the turnkey model and revisit this page.
Frequently asked questions
Is online gambling legal in Norway?
Can a foreign company get a Norwegian gambling licence?
What is the tax on gambling winnings in Norway?
Will Norway introduce a gambling licensing system?
How does GameBridge treat Norway?
Sources and review
Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.
- Lov om pengespill (pengespilloven), kapittel 2 — Lovdata, accessed 2026-09-11
- Årsrapport 2025 — Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet — Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet, accessed 2026-09-11
- Se hvem som har lov å tilby pengespill i Norge — Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet, accessed 2026-09-11
- Høring — forslag til endringer i pengespillforskriften om DNS-blokkering — Kultur- og likestillingsdepartementet, accessed 2026-09-11
- Hva er spillegrenser? — Norsk Tipping, accessed 2026-09-11
- Gambling Laws and Regulations Report 2026: Norway — ICLG, accessed 2026-09-11
- Progress Party restates aim to end Norway's gambling monopoly — iGB, accessed 2026-09-11
Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.