Abstract
Unlike other European countries, Norway restricted its gambling policy by monopolising its national Electronic Gambling Machines (EGM) market in the 2000s. Using interviews with 13 stakeholders involved in the monopolisation process, this analysis indicates that the state monopolised the EGM market to increase its regulatory power and to reduce the harm of problem gambling. It cannot be ruled out that the state’s oil wealth played a role, as it made it possible to forego the extra gambling revenue that EGM-market liberalisation might have allowed and therefore to act more ‘social-democratic’ than its Nordic brother, Denmark. Nor can it be ruled out that EU resistance to monopolisation triggered Norway’s government to defend its right to make its own decision.
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Declaration of Conflicts of Interest
Anita Borch has obtained funding from the Academy of Finland for this research.
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Borch, A. (2018). Why Restrict? Seven Explanations for the Electronic Gambling Machines Monopoly in Norway. In: Egerer, M., Marionneau, V., Nikkinen, J. (eds) Gambling Policies in European Welfare States . Work and Welfare in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90620-1_10
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