Norway permits online gambling but the rules that govern online gambling are extremely strict. Norwegian born poker players have expressed their views stating that the new government must look into the rules that govern online poker and make amendments to the current legislation to ensure that the game gets more popular in Norway.
One of the biggest debates in most countries is over the fact that online poker is not a game of luck but a game of skill. Professional poker players from across the world strongly disagree with the fact that poker is a game of luck. They spend hours learning; practising and improving their poker game and firmly believe that it is a game of skill.
This is exactly why one of the top Norwegian poker players recently issued a challenge to the Norwegian government. This top professional player goes by the name of
Odd_Oddsen on PokerStars and is one of the biggest online poker players in the world. He issued a challenge by saying “I challenge all politicians in Norway to play with me a Heads-Up freeroll of one million krone (about $170,000), paid from my own pocket if one will be able to beat me in 10,000 hands
Ola Amundsgård told the Danish site PNN.dk.
I offer this challenge to prove that poker is not a game of chance (as the law of Norway claims to be). But a thinking game based on skills, alongside chess and bridge.
Based on info provided by HighStakesDB, Odd_Oddsen is currently the 22nd biggest online poker winner. It is reported that he has won more than $2.67 million in 370,157 hands. However, many of his hands are not unaccounted for because just last month Odd_Oddsen told PNN.dk that he has played more than 4 million hands during the course of his career.
The Norwegian politicians are aware of the challenge and one of the parliament members actually responded to “Odd_Oddsen” and accepted the challenge. Erlen Wiborg from the Progress Party put up a blog post and said
Poker player Ola Amundsgård challenges all Parliament members on a game of poker. His goal is to focus on the need to legalize poker as it is a game of skill. Both I and the Progress Party agree with him and therefore, I am pleased that the new government will soften the rules and make sure to allow poker in a controlled manner
