Norway has opened a fast-track consultation on allowing the state-owned gambling operator Norsk Tipping to offer online poker, a product that is not currently available legally through operators in the country. The draft would give Norsk Tipping the exclusive right to run tournament poker and cash games, in a move intended to draw players away from unregulated foreign websites.
The Ministry of Culture and Equality published the consultation on Sept. 29. It proposes treating poker as an extension of Norsk Tipping’s existing online-gambling remit, under which the operator oversees games considered to need special public control because of their stakes or gambling-related risks.
The proposal includes a NOK5,000 daily loss limit and a NOK10,000 monthly poker limit. Players under 20 would face a NOK2,000 monthly ceiling. Tournament buy-ins, including fees, would be limited to NOK2,500, while cash-game buy-ins would be capped at NOK1,000.
Cash-game stakes would be restricted to a NOK10 big blind and NOK5 small blind. Players could open no more than four tables at once. Tournament players would have to take a five-minute break after each hour of play, while cash-game players would be able to set daily time limits through additions to Norsk Tipping’s Spillepuls responsible-gambling tool.
The ministry also proposes a 15-minute enforced pause for players moving directly between poker and online casino. Norsk Tipping’s overall monthly loss limit is NOK20,000, meaning a player who exhausted the proposed poker allowance could otherwise continue using casino products.
The consultation asks whether marketing of online poker should be prohibited or tightly restricted to protect younger and vulnerable users. Culture and Equality Minister Lubna Jaffery said the policy priority was preventing gambling addiction and other negative consequences, and argued that a controlled domestic offer would be safer than foreign commercial sites.
The proposal follows Norsk Tipping’s May 2024 request for permission to offer the game. Poker is otherwise allowed only in limited private-home settings and at an annual national tournament championship. Norway’s gambling laws operate through a state monopoly, while commercial operators are barred from marketing gambling services to Norwegian players.
Demand has persisted outside that system. A 2022 University of Bergen survey found nearly 90,000 Norwegians played online poker annually through overseas operators. Norsk Tipping put the potential annual player base at 100,000 to 150,000, with up to 130,000 active in a quarter. PokerStars left Norway in 2023, and Unibet and 888 also withdrew their local offerings.
The Norwegian Poker Federation had previously supported a regulated domestic product, viewing it as safer than unregulated play. Lotteritilsynet would assess the poker offering within a year of its launch if the rules are adopted.
Separately, the consultation would introduce a general duty for major gambling providers to proactively report serious incidents and operational deviations to Lotteritilsynet. It also contains reforms to bingo payments, including requirements for recipient organisations to hold verified accounts in the Register of Non-Profit Organisations.
The consultation closes on Nov. 29, and the ministry proposes that the amended regulation take effect immediately thereafter.
