Casino Ban in Norway Leads to Growth in VPN Usage

August 26, 2024 By Nick Anderson No Comments 4 minutes

VPNs have become a must-have for people looking to evade censorship and other forms of content restrictions. That includes Western countries, which have tightened their own rules in recent years. This has led to amusing situations, such as the casino ban in Norway, leading to a boom in VPN usage.

Norway recently made headlines by passing a new law that allows for DNS (Domain Name System) censorship of any unlicensed foreign website offering online casino services. This law left online casino users in limbo because their accounts were stuck in limbo.

According to vpnguiden.no, there has been a strong uptick in VPN-related searches since the public became aware of the impending ban. VPN usage in Norway shot up by 35%, in the following week, before leveling out.

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How Does Norway’s Casino Ban Work?

Norway has implemented a DNS ban, identifying and blocking websites tied to Krypto casinos. The DNS ban works by blocking the results users retrieve through their ISPs when searching for a domain. Domain name servers work like the Internet’s encyclopedia, tying IP addresses to domain names.

Positive boom for VPNs

VPNs have always been popular with internet users seeking to bypass certain content restrictions. Examples include users living under authoritarian regimes, seeking to bypass censorship, or even travelers wanting to add an extra layer of security while utilizing public networks. According to Microsoft, the services can also be used for location spoofing to circumvent local restrictions.

While Norway isn’t censoring free speech, it has taken steps to weed out “unwanted” activity. It began with a ban on illegal file-sharing sites back in 2015, including the services Popcorn Time and Primewire. The government’s new “casino ban”, adds to the mix.

Simply put, the new law allows government regulators to create a list of sites soliciting illegal casino deposits without being licensed by the central government. Once a casino website is added to the list, the government will instruct the country’s ISPs to block such sites on the DNS level.

As a result, Norwegians wanting to use foreign casino sites have flocked to VPN services, seeking ways to evade the new restrictions. Norway’s gambling market is huge, at least considering its population numbers.

In 2023, Norwegians wagered more than 50 billion kroner (NOK), which equates to roughly 5 billion USD. Roughly 2.2 million Norwegians placed their wagers through the government-controlled casino. For comparison, the nation has a population of about 5.6 million people.

Ambiguity related to “Krypto Casinos”

There has been much ambiguity regarding the classification of gambling services, which has spurred the argument about a casino ban in Norway. The country does not recognize crypto as official tender, so an open question remains: Do crypto casinos qualify as illegal gambling under the country’s current rules?

In Norway, the services are called “krypto casino”, according to kryptografen.no, and it refers to any site or service that offer casino services, where deposits, withdrawals and wagers are denominated in cryptocurrency. Since no legal tender is exchanged, it has become an open question as to whether it constitutes an illegal form of casino gambling in Norway.

Pros and Cons of Using a VPN

For instance, a VPN can encrypt a person’s data when browsing the web, ensuring their data is protected. A VPN breaks up the data into small packets, which are subsequently encrypted and moved through a new layer of servers. Since traffic is rerouted, it also masks the end user’s IP, which benefits those seeking to stay anonymous.

By sending traffic through another location, the user appears to be in the country of the VPN’s servers. As such, those seeking to access krypto casinos or other types of gambling can easily circumvent the government’s regulations. The same applies to streaming services, which utilize geolocation fencing to block access to content.

One significant drawback with VPNs is that internet speeds are hampered when connected to the tool. As the data moves through additional layers, it also takes more time to communicate with the target site. With FastestVPN, we reduce those lags to oblivion with WireGuard, AES 256, and 10 GBPS servers.

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