Online Gambling Payment
Ban
February
28, 2010
Taking a page right out of
the book that the United States has been using, Norway has just banned
payment processing for online gambling transactions. The bill is very
similar in nature to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or
UIGEA. Theirs has a much simpler title – The Payment Act. It has
effectively made all financial transactions that are related to illegal
online gambling illegal.
The law has already gotten royal approval, which means it just needs to
be adopted as national and enforceable law. The difference between the
Payment Act and the UIGEA though, is that if you gamble at a licensed
online gambling site through Norway – your payment is legal and
passable. If you gamble through a site that is not legal in that it is
not licensed through the country, then it is an illegal online gambling
transaction and will be blocked.
The law will go into effect on June 1st which is the same day that the
UIGEA’s rules and regulations go into effect in the US. As of right now
though, those countries that do not have online gambling licenses within
Norway say that they are not overly concerned about it. Sweden’s Betsson
says that they do not expect it to affect any of their online gambling
deposits or transactions at all.
There are those that say that Norway should see how difficult it has
been for the US to try and clamp down on online gambling and perhaps
change their tactics a bit from what the US used. They say that any kind
of blocking of online gambling financial transactions has not worked out
very well for them and that they might want to reconsider.
