Listen to this article:Norwegian bingo revenue fell sharply in 2025, with recently published figures showing a 20% drop compared with the previous year.
The fall appears to be the result of new rules introduced during the year. Since 2025, players have been required to register in order to play electronic bingo games. At the same time, loss limits were introduced, which put a cap on how much players can lose.
Tore Bell, director at the Norwegian Gambling Authority, said:
“The decrease is likely linked to the fact that, starting in 2025, players will be required to register to play electronic games. Loss limits, i.e., maximum thresholds for player losses, were also introduced during the year. These are legal requirements to ensure responsible gaming.”
The changes to the rules were not unexpected, and operators had time to prepare, as the Norwegian government announced changes to electronic bingo rules in 2024.
The figures show that electronic bingo is still the largest part of the Norwegian bingo hall market, even with the effects of the new rules. In 2025, traditional main games generated around NOK 1.094 billion in gross revenue, while electronic bingo, referred to in the Norwegian figures as databingo, generated around NOK 2.591 billion.
The changes announced by the Norwegian government in 2024, with the aim of putting stricter responsible gambling controls around games played in bingo halls and online, in connection with those venues.
At the time, Norway’s culture and equality minister Lubna Jaffery said electronic bingo games had been operating without loss limits for a long time, and that this had come “at the expense of vulnerable players and their relatives”.
According to the Norwegian Gambling and Foundation Authority, gross revenue from bingo halls reached just over NOK 3.685 billion in 2025. That was NOK 930 million lower than in 2024, which is a huge decline for the country’s bingo sector.
The two main changes are easy to understand. Players now need to register to play electronic bingo games, and they are subject to limits on how much they can lose.
For operators, this makes the market more restricted and controlled than it was before. Players who previously played without registering now have to go through an extra step, which may put many off playing in the first place, and responsible gambling rules now limit those who may have spent larger amounts.
While this does not necessarily mean that fewer people are playing bingo in Norway, it does mean that the amount being spent in halls has fallen. The available figures show a major drop in revenue, especially when compared with the size of the electronic bingo segment.
The new rules are in keeping with the broader approach to gambling in Norway. The country has generally taken a strict view of gambling regulation, with a clear focus on player protection and limiting gambling harm. The bingo changes are another example of that approach being applied to the market.
However, even with the Norwegian bingo revenue fall, it is still providing funding for local organisations and associations.
The 2025 figures show that nearly NOK 168 million was transferred to 2,457 organisations from bingo activity, after licensing fees were deducted. In addition, 2,300 organisations received just over NOK 34 million from Belago terminals, which can be placed in bingo halls. Nonetheless, if the downwards trend continues, it won’t just be Norway’s bingo club operators that are concerned, but also the local organisations that have come to rely upon the funds that they raise.
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