Player sues casino

[rainmaker]

This is the interesting bit. Normally, a casino that is entirely offshore could not be EFFECTIVELY sued, because even if the court ruled against them, how would they ENFORCE it. There are many cases here in the UK where consumers have won judgements, but actually GETTING the money has proven to be impossible, because some companies who are determined to be rogue even ignore the courts, and know how to duck & dive to make any rulings against them ineffective, even WITHOUT hiding offshore. If this player wins, how will the Norwegian authorities ENFORCE the judgement, or indeed ANY sanction, given that the casino is not SUPPOSED to be accepting players from Norway in the first place.

Yes agree. This is quite interesting.

First of all. There are no laws in Norway that forbids Norwegian people to gamble online (offshore gambling). The only relevant law we have about online gambling is that Norwegian banks are not allowed to approve transactions marked MCC 7995 from Norwegian customers to gambling sites. MCC 7995 is the Merchant Category Code for gambling. If I do a transaction with my Norwegian card to for example Centrebet, then the Norwegian bank is the one who violates the law, not Centrebet and not the customer. So Centrebet does not violate Norwegian law by offering gambling to Norwegian players.

And yes, there is a always a problem when international companies are convicted in one country, but operates from another country. Especially for a gambling company who in addition might have licenses in other countries. For example Centrebet. They operates mostly from Australia (in my knowledge). They do have a license from UK for their international customers who are betting on sports. They have a license from Malta for international customers who uses their Casino. Centrebet does not even have a office here in Norway. So the Norwegian law system has no opportunity to seize any assets.

The customer in this case (the man this thread is about) did use the casino and he did bet on sports. So this is of course only a mess

As a guess, I will assume that a company like Centrebet do consider the Norwegian law system to be reliable. I think that they will obey the verdict. As we know, reputation is everything when it comes to gambling. And I think the Scandinavian market is quite important for Centrebet.

[vinylweatherman]

Yes agree. This is quite interesting.

First of all. There are no laws in Norway that forbids Norwegian people to gamble online (offshore gambling). The only relevant law we have about online gambling is that Norwegian banks are not allowed to approve transactions marked MCC 7995 from Norwegian customers to gambling sites. MCC 7995 is the Merchant Category Code for gambling. If I do a transaction with my Norwegian card to for example Centrebet, then the Norwegian bank is the one who violates the law, not Centrebet and not the customer. So Centrebet does not violate Norwegian law by offering gambling to Norwegian players.

And yes, there is a always a problem when international companies are convicted in one country, but operates from another country. Especially for a gambling company who in addition might have licenses in other countries. For example Centrebet. They operates mostly from Australia (in my knowledge). They do have a license from UK for their international customers who are betting on sports. They have a license from Malta for international customers who uses their Casino. Centrebet does not even have a office here in Norway. So the Norwegian law system has no opportunity to seize any assets.

The customer in this case (the man this thread is about) did use the casino and he did bet on sports. So this is of course only a mess

As a guess, I will assume that a company like Centrebet do consider the Norwegian law system to be reliable. I think that they will obey the verdict. As we know, reputation is everything when it comes to gambling. And I think the Scandinavian market is quite important for Centrebet.

It seems the laws do not match the INTENT, and the offshore operators have taken full advantage. All the need do is disguise the transactions by using a different code, and even the BANKS are not technically breaking the law, as it doesn't seem to require them to investigate miscoding, only block what are clearly 7995 transactions.

What the industry risks is that if their activites come to the attention of the authorities in a negative way, the laws will be changed to make them more effective, just as happened in the US where they always considered the Wire Act to prohibit offshore gambling, but it was completely ineffective at stopping it until UIGEA came along to make the rules much stronger.

It's also easier for a dodgy operator to avoid changing planes at a Norwegian airport than an American one, which is how many of the high profile arrests of offshore operators was achieved in the USA.

[deepsky2]

Im so tired of people trying to sue casinos for there gambling problem and losses.
Why not sue every one. There are people shop till they drop, do we sue stores because they sell to much to a customer.
Come on. I know some have gambling addiction and I know I do to but in the end its me who makes the choice. I love gambling and its what I like but because I may have lose alot Im not going to sue its me and only me that made that choice so to every one thats blaming casinos for there lost, its not the casino fault its your and you should hold up to it!