National laws in Norway prohibit banks from allowing deposits and withdrawals on unlicensed sites, as outlined in Section 5 of the Norway Gambling Act.
Lotteritilsynet, the regulatory body, will supervise compliance for nine banks, although their identities were not disclosed.
The regulator has the authority to instruct banks to block transactions to and from specific accounts and companies.
Lotteritilsynet has requested information from each bank about measures taken to prevent transactions with unlicensed sites, as well as any internal compliance processes.
In an effort to protect the Norwegian sole proprietorship model and mitigate gambling-related issues, Lotteritilsynet has decided to conduct a comprehensive inspection of compliance for the first time.
The banks have three weeks to respond to the initial requests from Lotteritilsynet.
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) recently called on Norway to transition from a state gambling monopoly to a licensing model, similar to Sweden and Finland.
EGBA secretary-general Maarten Haijer believes this change would help address concerns regarding consumers gambling on unlicensed sites.
