China Censure Comparison Resurfaces in Norway's Gambling Monopoly Debate

Norsk Tipping is on track to become Europe's last remaining state gambling monopoly, with Finland set to move to a licensed market by 2027. That prospect has sharpened the political battle in Norway between reform advocates and defenders of the current system.

In a recent op-ed for ABC Nyheter, FrP MP Silje Hjemdal backed a licensing model, arguing that Norway would bring home more money from abroad than it does today. She said foreign operators already hold a significant share of the Norwegian market and that large sums are shipped out of the country every day. She also claimed the monopoly can only be maintained through extensive interference in individual freedoms.

Her most striking remark, though, equated Norwegian authorities with Chinese-style censorship: "Norwegian authorities use Chinese methods to prevent normal banking transactions, to block websites and to close citizens' access to foreign gambling offers…" While much of the op-ed fits the standard business-versus-state pattern expected from FrP's free-market stance, that specific comparison stands out - and it is not new.

ABC Nyheter, then operating as ABC Startsiden, made the same China comparison in 2007 while criticising the gambling regulator Lottstift. At the time, its editor Espen Udland was locked in a legal dispute with the regulator over website links to unlicensed operators Centrebet and Ladbrokes.

Lottstift had threatened the outlet with fines and police action. Udland responded with a pointed question: "Do we want Chinese conditions and censoring of information just because it [the operators] is located outside Norway?" The repetition suggests that anti-monopoly rhetoric in Norway has remained largely static for close to two decades.