The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund is currently located in Norway. The Government Pension Fund was established back in the 90s when the country was enjoying large amounts of profit from its oil and gas exports almost all around the world. It is currently valued at $1 trillion.
The proposal
It has recently come into light that the opposition party of the country does not condone that the fund is currently a stake owner on a number of online and offline gambling operators. The biggest players the fund has invested in is MGM Resorts International and the online gambling operator from beloved neighboring Sweden, Betsson.
The proposal was made by the two opposition parties within Norway, the Labour Party, and the Christian Democrats. As it has been noted, the proposal was met with quite a lot of enthusiasm, but still requires backing from other parties like the Socialists Left and Center parties (more on this here).
History repeats itself
This is not the first time that Norway had to put out restrictions of the fund’s investing activities. At this moment, The Government Pension Fund is restricted from investing in tobacco product manufacturing companies, Nuclear weapons, and landmines. Although all of these industries seem quite random, there is a similar pattern to be seen. It looks like Norway does not want its biggest fund to be associated with any controversial investments. Including health issues, weapons and most recently, people’s livelihoods.
Perfect time
The legislature comes at a perfect time as the country is starting to toughen up its regulations about the illegal gambling operators within its borders. It is now believed that this could be one of the moves to hasten up the whole process. However, the proposal still needs considerable amounts of support from politicians of other parties, which could prove hard to get.
The ruling party has interests in retaining the investments as it has 2 state-run legal gambling service providers in the country racking in a substantial amount of tax revenue.
Still, the importance of filtering the gambling operations taking place in the country could outweigh the government’s interest in additional tax. Only time will tell.