Public Gaming Magazine May/June 2016

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money games, which are evolving extreme-
ly fast. People choose to play online and
the use of traditional gaming machines is
slowly dwindling. A vast increase in the use
of smart phones and tablets is being fore-
cast and young people grow up with these
gadgets and become accustomed to using
them, first as a game, which later evolves
into business. Inevitably, lottery companies
will move to selling their products online.
The UIL has been struggling for an au-
thorisation to expand its operations and of-
fer its casino-style and instant games online
for several years now. We’ve also lobbied for
the government to confront illegal foreign
i-gaming, but to no avail. The Icelandic
lottery market has been affected by the
involvement of foreign private companies.
This applies in particular to companies that
offer their services on the web. Consumers
in Iceland have access to countless foreign
websites that operate illegally. A number of
these have become firmly implanted.
The apathy of the government is incom-
prehensible and it is unacceptable that the
legislature has set no restrictions on the
aforementioned illegal foreign websites.
These companies have no connection or
responsibility to the Icelandic community
—no supervision, no taxes, no fines, no ob-
stacles. At the same time, the government
prevents domestic lottery companies, such
as the UIL, from expanding its operations
and therefore from offering the games they
are licensed for today on the Internet. Vast
amounts of money therefore flow out of
the country instead of supporting the work
of the owners of the UIL in favour of the
Icelandic public.
I don’t know what explains the apathy of
the government, but it seems to have no
interest in these issues and I feel the min-
istry fails to grasp the importance of these
activities. If lottery money were not used,
the operations of the institutions and as-
sociations that currently benefit from lot-
tery money would have to be partly funded
by the tax payer or their operations would
have to cease or be reduced in scope.
In the spring a bill regarding casinos was
submitted to parliament. The bill was pro-
duced by 9 members of parliament from
different political parties and without
the involvement of the ministry. What is
at odds in this bill is the fact that it does
not provide for the gaming activities to be
managed by the organizations or legal en-
tities that offer their proceeds to national
causes—in addition to the fact that the bill
actually prevents Icelandic lottery compa-
nies from participating in the market. If the
bill were to be passed and become law, it
would mark a fundamental change in the
policy that has governed lottery and bet-
ting activities in Iceland and deviate from
the arrangements that have been applied
to these activities and enjoyed a broad con-
sensus. The issue has been through a first
round of discussions and reports have been
submitted, but we feel that it is not very
likely that the bill will be approved, and we
have to bet on our MP’s common sense in
this matter.
How do you see the product mix trend-lines
evolving?