Norway's Ministry of Culture and Equality published draft amendments that would allow state operator Norsk Tipping to offer online poker for the first time. The consultation opened 29 September on an accelerated schedule, with the goal of moving players from unregulated offshore platforms into the legal channel.
The proposal permits two formats: tournaments and cash games. Daily losses are capped at NOK 5,000 ($521), monthly at NOK 10,000. Players under 20 face a monthly limit of NOK 2,000. Tournament buy-ins including fees may not exceed NOK 2,500; cash-game buy-ins are capped at NOK 1,000. Maximum blinds are set at NOK 10/NOK 5.
Players may open no more than four tables at once. Tournaments require a five-minute break every hour; cash games mandate personal time limits and specialised monitoring. Switching between poker and casino triggers a fifteen-minute cooldown. The ministry is consulting on a ban or strict cap on poker advertising, particularly to protect younger users.
Several grey-market operators have left Norway in recent years. PokerStars closed in 2023; Unibet and 888 also withdrew their local offerings. A 2022 University of Bergen survey found around 90,000 Norwegians play online poker on foreign sites each year. Norsk Tipping's research puts the figure higher: 100,000 to 150,000 annually, up to 130,000 active per quarter.
Minister Lubna Jaffery said it is better to offer Norwegians a responsible and safe product domestically than leave them on unregulated commercial platforms. The Norwegian Poker Federation previously supported legalisation, citing safer conditions compared to the grey market.
