Norway unveiled a new national strategy to address gambling-related problems, with an action plan running from 2026 to 2029 that combines prevention, treatment, and knowledge generation. Norway’s initiative, launched last Friday, brings together coordinated prevention campaigns, improved treatment services, and an expanded research agenda, with a particular focus on young people and the risks posed by video games with gambling-like mechanics.
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The plan does not introduce regulatory changes regarding legal access to gambling, age restrictions, or betting limits. Its stated goal is to minimize the number of people who develop gambling-related problems, emphasizing that the protection of vulnerable individuals must take precedence over commercial interests.
Young people at the center of the program
The plan’s priority group is the population aged between 9 and 25. The identification of this range is not arbitrary: previous studies had linked young people between 12 and 17 years old with gambling-like activities present in digital video games, such as loot boxes and other random reward mechanisms that replicate gambling logic without being formally classified as such.
However, the program also considers other groups with greater vulnerability: athletes, incarcerated individuals, people with neurodevelopmental disorders, young people not in education or employment, and people with a history of gambling addiction are part of the plan’s focus.
Prevention in schools, clubs, and digital platforms
Prevention measures target multiple channels simultaneously. In educational and sports environments, specific programs will be implemented in schools, youth clubs, and sports clubs to help young people identify gambling-like elements present in digital video games.
In parallel, prevention materials will be distributed through online portals popular among young people, such as ung.no and snakkomspill.no, and social media campaigns will be run specifically targeting the 16 to 25 segment, with information on the risks and legal aspects of gambling.
The Norwegian Film Institute and various voluntary organizations will collaborate on outreach activities related to video game culture and available support services.
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Free treatment and expanded access to the helpline
Regarding treatment services, the plan prioritizes the improvement of existing resources. Hjelpelinjen, the Norwegian helpline for gambling problems, will expand its accessibility with the addition of chat services tailored to a younger audience.
In addition, free 12-week treatment programs will continue to be available, conducted remotely via telephone calls and without the need for a prior medical referral, a feature that significantly reduces the barrier to access for those seeking help.
State monopoly under pressure
The launch of the plan coincides with a time of increased scrutiny of Norsk Tipping, the state operator that maintains the monopoly on regulated online gambling in Norway. Recent incidents raised doubts about the robustness of its systems: a technical error led to incorrect lottery payments, and an issue linked to Eurojackpot exposed deficiencies in internal controls, resulting in intervention by regulatory bodies and financial penalties.
These episodes intensified the debate over whether the monopoly model is robust enough to meet its own consumer protection goals, in a context where the government is presenting a program that puts that very goal at the center of its gambling policy.
The plan will also be integrated with Norway’s broader digital policies for youth, including recent guidelines on screen time and strategies to address addiction and suicide prevention, reinforcing the government’s stance of treating gambling harm as a public health priority.
Norway thus joins Spain, which last week published its new Safe Gambling Program, in a growing European trend of reviewing consumer protection frameworks in the online gambling sector.
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