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The Norwegian Gambling Authority said that Tiergarten Marketing, operator of schpell.com, has lost its appeal against the regulator's cease and desist order, meaning the affiliate website will receive daily fines if it does not stop promoting illegal gambling in Norway.
The company could start incurring fines of up to 250,000 kroner (€21,300) per day if it does not stop marketing illegal gambling and remove all content by December 17, the agency said on Tuesday (December 10).
In February, the authority first warned Tiergarten and Norwegian companies Baris Entertainment AS and Viken Underholdning AS that they would start incurring daily fines if they did not stop marketing to Norwegian residents.
Baris and Viken are eligible for daily fines of 50,000 kroner per day if they do not comply with the order, the authority said.
“We expect them to stop promoting illegal gambling in all their channels, and that they remove everything that is already there, we have also received signals that they will do so,” said Monica Alisøy Kjelsnes, a lawyer at the authority.
Sebastian Nielsen Brevik and Henrik Lie Viken streamed broadcasts of themselves engaging in illegal gambling, the regulator said.
The regulator uses criteria including use of Norwegian language, currency or residents, or whether marketing occurs on Norwegian channels or whether it benefits Norwegian causes or companies.
The agency said it found Schpell’s marketing of games using bonuses and giveaways on Twitch, Kick, YouTube, Instagram and Discord.
Tiergarten had argued that its programming is in English, not Norwegian, and is not specifically aimed at Norway.
But the regulator said the companies used Norwegian streamers and programming did not need to take place in Norway to violate Norwegian law.
The authority noted that although use of Norwegian language and currency by Tiergarten’s channels stopped after it notified the company that it was in violation, the changes were not sufficient to alter its assessment that marketing was happening in Norway due to use of Norwegian companies and residents.
