Kindred pushes back on Norway’s stringent advertising controls

Kindred Group is poised to file a lawsuit against Lotteri-og Stiftelsestilsynet (Lotteritilsynet), Norway’s national gambling and lottery authority, in response to stringent advertising controls that include a ban on gambling firms using the App Store. The online operator has accused Lotteritilsynet of conducting unfair restrictions and regulatory overreach on its business services.
Back in August, Lotteritilsynet enforced its strictest controls to date on bank/payment transfers, IP blocking, penalties and further advertising restrictions, which saw the regulator demand that Apple remove all-gambling related apps from its Norway-facing App Store.
Anders Ryssdal, Partner at Glittertind, the Oslo law firm that will represent Kindred, has confirmed to national broadcaster NRK that the company “has no choice but to move ahead with its lawsuit”, stating that his client’s services have been unfairly targeted by Lotteritilsynet’s actions.
In its filing, Kindred and Glittertind state that Lotteritilsynet actions ‘exceeded its power of attorney’ by involving Apple, a US technology firm, to sanction a restriction aiding its own political purposes.
With regards to payments, Glittertind charges Lotteritilsynet of ‘overreach in its regulatory conduct’, stating that it had enforced unfair blocks on a number ‘foreign intermediaries’ processing transactions with Norwegian banks, a service which does not infringe on Lotteritilsynet’s gambling monopoly framework.
Norwegian news site Adessa first broke the news that Apple blocked Norwegians from accessing 38 gambling apps back in August, upon the request of Lotteritilsynet. Betsson, NordicBet, Coolbet, Comeon, LeoVegas, Mr Green and Unibet were all also implicated in the online gambling blockade.
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