Unibet chief dismisses accusations of illegal marketing in Norway

Henrik Tjärnström says Unibet is fully compliant as regulator accuses operator of breaking local advertising laws

Unibet chief executive Henrik Tjärnström says he is “very confident” the firm is acting legally in the Norwegian market as the country’s regulator continues to mount pressure on operators it says are flouting local marketing laws.

Tjärnström told eGR Digital Marketing the operator was “fully compliant” with the appropriate regulations, and that the firm has considered “overarching” European laws in its decision to continue to advertise in the market.

“The Norwegian market is an important market for us,” Tjärnström told eGR DM. “We are very confident that what we are doing in Norway is completely fine. It is business as usual for us.”

Unibet is one of several foreign operators that advertise on television in Norway via TV networks broadcasting from abroad.

In recent weeks the Norwegian Gaming Authority (Lotteritilsynet) has been vocal in its criticism of a number of firms it said should not be advertising in Norway.

In a series of blog posts, the Lotteritilsynet has called out operators including Unibet and Betsson by name, and has also written to more than 20 operators asking them to cease marketing operations in the country.

Domestic marketing of gambling products is forbidden under Norway’s monopoly system, however operators have continued to advertise in the country through broadcasts on foreign networks, many of which are under the regulation of UK media authority Ofcom.

The Lotteritilsynet has written to Ofcom asking it to address what it considers to be a loophole in the law, with a response expected next month.

However, eGR understands that previous appeals to Ofcom from the Lotteritilsynet have fallen upon deaf ears.

With Norway taking tentative steps towards re-regulation and with the government set to return results of several inquiries next year, Tjärnström was optimistic about the longer-term prospects in the market.

“We have seen some progress in Sweden over the last couple of weeks and we know Sweden and Norway are closely related,” Tjärnström said.

“For us it is a question of time, and market forces are clearly driving it in the right direction. We appreciate there are a lot of legacy structures in society which want to protect the historical situation, but we are confident market forces are on our side,” he added.