Official language: Norwegian
Population: 4,805,437
Currency: Norwegian Krone (NOK)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = NOK
1 GBP = NOK
1 USD = NOK

Quick links
Online gambling sites in Norway
Online casinos in Norway
Online poker sites in Norway
Online sportsbooks in Norway
Online bingo in Norway
Mobile casinos in Norway
Norway gambling news

Poker in Norway
All forms of live poker are forbidden in Norway. There used to be a number of poker halls around the country, especially in Oslo, but the authorities were slowly cracking down on the underground clubs. By 2007 none remained. This has not dampened the spirits of Norwegian poker players and the game is still very popular in certain circles.

Norway has produced some amazing poker players over the years. Perhaps the best known player is Annette Obrestad, who goes by the online handle Annette_15. This high school dropout has won at least $USD 3.3 million, including a $2 million prize from her big WSOP win (she was only 18 when she won) and $500,000 from various Pokerstars online tournaments. Obrestad has started her career by playing online poker.

One of Europe's most popular poker tournament is the annual Norwegian Championship, in which one must be a Norwegian passport holder to participate. Strangely enough, due to the prohibitive laws in Norway the tournament has been held in various foreign countries for years.

Online Poker in Norway
Online gambling in Norway is legal, but only at state-run gambling sites. There are no internet poker sites in Norway, only lotto and sportsbooks. Since December 2008, the Norwegian government has made it illegal for players to gamble at foreign online poker sites, so Norweigans are facing a difficult situation when trying to play online. Since 2010 Norwegian banks are forbidden to process payments to internet poker sites.

The EU is against the online gambling ban, but since Norway is not a EU member state, not much can be done. Norway wants to have a monopoly on all internet gambling, and it seems they are getting what they want. But despite the ban, Norwegian players still use foreign online poker sites, since the government has no jurisdiction where these foreign sites are located.