By Kory Travers | September 27, 2007

WSOPE winner Annette Obrestad and runner-up Oyvind Riisen have cause to worry: the Norwegian government is ‘working to introduce legislation that would ban online gambling’ along similar lines to those of the Unites States’ UIGEA.

Trond Giske, from the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, revealed that online gambling is already illegal under Norwegian Law, and what they intend to achieve with the new law is simply to enforce this by stopping bank transfers to foreign gaming companies. Gaming Intelligence Group reports that, according to Mr. Giske, if the new law passes a vote in the Norwegian parliament it could come into force as early as next spring.

This move is not expected to go down well with the European Free Trade Association - part of the European Economic Area - which has previously ruled in favor of EU licensed gaming operators’ rights to a fair access to gaming markets.

We expect a lively debate over this issue will ensue, and we hope that Norwegian poker greats like Thor Hansen and Annette Obrestad do their part to keep poker legal in Norway.

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