CRIMINOGENIC PROBLEM GAMBLING: A STUDY of NORWEGIAN COURT VERDICTS

Abstract

This comprehensive, explorative study reviewed all verdicts in the appeal and Supreme court in Norway where criminological gambling related activity was involved during the period 1993–2022. The aim was to identify characteristics of defendants and legal consequences of criminogenic problem gambling in Norway. We hypothesized that more than 80% of the criminal offences would be economically related. The verdicts were extracted from Lovdata Pro database. A total of 288 verdicts were identified. They were categorized as irrelevant (n = 98), miscellaneous (n = 17), associated (n = 56), criminogenic (n = 56), interlocutory orders and decisions (n = 47), or processed further in Supreme Court (n = 14). Quantitative analyses in the form of descriptive analyses were conducted to provide an overview of the verdicts. The results indicated that the majority of the defendants in verdicts related to gambling problems were middle-aged men who worked in retail and sales. The most common criminal offences were fraud (29.5%) or embezzlement and similar offences (34.4%). In line with our hypothesis, 82% of the verdicts were related to economic crime. Victims were mainly employers (29.5%), and economic harm was mostly done to companies. Imprisonment was the most common penalty (85.2%). Our findings suggest that gambling-related harm affects victims in various ways and provides a basis for considering information-oriented measures to increase awareness, knowledge, and understanding of gambling problems. More research is needed to understand the extent of problem gambling using Norwegian court verdicts.