NORWEGIAN REGULATOR HITS SEOBUTLER WITH DAILY FINE FOR ILLEGAL MARKETING

SEO service provider SEOButler is being hit with a daily NOK2000 (approx. €198 euro) fine in Norway for promoting illegal gambling sites. 

The country’s gambling regulator, Lotteritilsynet, says that despite repeated warnings SEOButler is still promoting illegal gambling to Norwegian consumers via four websites; Tjenpengeronline.no, Fotballreisetips.no, Finnstilling.no and Startsidendin.no.

Lotteritilsynet claims it first warned the company to cease marketing illegal gambling sites in December 2020, and then again in March 2021. SEOButler responded by blocking Norwegian visitors from some sites, but the regulator subsequently found the offending sites were still promoting offshore gambling to Norweign visitors. 

In a statement, Lotteritilsynet said: “SEOButler has on a number of occasions been made aware of breaches of the marketing and dissemination ban. Lotteritilsynet takes a serious view of repeated breaches of the regulations, especially after the actor is made aware of which specific cases are considered to be breaches of the rules. Furthermore, SEOButler has in several cases given the impression that it has complied with the orders to stop its illegal business.”

From 25 May, the company will be subject to a NOK2000 daily fine, up to a maximum of NOK200,000 (approx. €19,800). 

AYO.NEWS says:

Considering SEOButler is based in the UK, which is now not part of the EU or EEA (Norway is a member of the EEA), and there’s no legal gambling market to lose in Norway by annoying their regulator, we can’t see that the company is going to pay much attention to the deluded demands of an anachronistic regulator like Lotteritilsynet. 

The entire episode just further underlines why the Norwegian authorities need to drag themselves into the 21st century, and stop treating their own consumers like naughty children by denying them legal access to a fair, international digital marketplace. 

Staying with Norway’s insane gambling rules, last month Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), called on the Norwegian government to ditch their existing monopoly system and introduce a proper regulated market.