DATA CENTRE
NORWAY
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports betting,
horse race betting and lottery.
Operator Type: Online gambling is reserved
for its two monopoly providers, Norsk Tipping
and Norsk Rikstoto.
Status: The monopoly has extended its offering
to include live betting, online bingo and casino
games in an attempt to redirect traffi c from
unlicensed sites. The government published
in March 2017 a long-awaited white paper on
how best to regulate the gambling sector, which
proposed that the gambling monopoly remain
in place and no licensing system be introduced.
The Norwegian regulator continues to step up
enforcement efforts against unregulated operators,
local banks and payment service providers.
POLAND
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, casino and poker.
Operator Type: Betting licences are available
for companies with a representative in Poland.
Casino and poker are reserved for a state monopoly.
Status: Legislation enacted 1 January, 2012
permits betting. To date, only a handful of local
land-based operators have obtained a betting licence
(Fortuna, Millenium, STS, E-Toto and Totolotek).
Following the approval of various amendments
to the Gambling Act in 2016, online gaming
(including poker) is no longer prohibited as of
1 April, 2017, although the exclusive rights to offer
such products are reserved to a state monopoly.
Provisions that provide for the establishment
of a blacklist of unlicensed operators and ISP
and payment blocking entered into force on
1 July, 2017. The blacklist contains over a
thousand domain names. Totalizator Sportowy,
the state-owned monopoly provider for online
gaming, has published a call for tender for delivery
of its online casino.
PORTUGAL
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator Type: Any EU/EEA operator can
apply to be granted a licence for online gambling.
Lottery games and land-based fi xed odds sports
betting remain reserved for a monopoly.
Status: A regulated market since 2015.
Although operators can now apply for licences,
their Portuguese revenue streams will be subject
to comparatively high tax rates, particularly
sports betting, which is subject to an 8-16% tax
on turnover. In 2015, the RGA fi led a state aid case
with the EC challenging the Portuguese betting tax
as breaking EU trade rules. Delayed technical
standards were introduced in December 2016,
paving the way for operators to certify their online
systems to obtain a licence.
ROMANIA
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator Type: Any operator from an EU/EEA
jurisdiction or the Swiss Confederation can
apply for a licence. Lottery games remain reserved
for the monopoly.
Status: The Romanian government passed
legislation at the end of 2014 that allows entities
within the EU to apply for a licence, imposes
a reform on licence fees and eliminates many
(but not all) of the tax burdens placed on player
revenues. The Gambling Law (as amended)
introduced a legal framework for a fully regulated
online gambling market, and requires licences to
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