Minister of Cultural Affairs, Anne Enger Lahnstein

Oslo Relations ’99 (Intertoto – AILE Congress) opening address

Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel, Oslo, 30 August 1999

Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to Norway and Oslo Relations ’99. I am very pleased that Oslo has been chosen as venue for this conference of the world’s gaming industry. The number and diversity of the participants, who have come from every region of the world, reflect the widespread interest in the themes of the Conference.

Important issues are on your agenda here in Oslo. Focus will be put on the challenges faced by the gaming companies around the world. Communications and the building of relations are, as I understand it, central issues to be debated during these days. You will also take a historic decision of merging the two organizations that you are representing. On the eve of the next millennium, a new World Lottery Organization will see the day in Oslo.

I hope and believe that this new alliance will be a forceful advocate for the lottery industry, enabling it to meet the challenges of the new millennium efficiently and effectively.

Man has at all times and in all cultures been attracted to games. Games provide excitement and entertainment. And games nurture dreams.

Games also provide social benefits. As owner of the host lottery of this conference, Norsk Tipping, the Norwegian government very much appreciates the economic impact and importance of your industry to various sectors in society. In Norway, proceeds from the state lottery are distributed in equal parts to culture, research and sport. I trust that your industry also in the future will be at the service of social and humanitarian causes.

It is furthermore, as I see it, important that value and ethics questions linked to games be given attention. There are some disturbing signs to be seen in the gaming industry, like underage gaming and compulsive gambling. We also know that money laundering is taking place. I am therefore glad that you, as dominating operators, show a responsible attitude towards these issues. Such an approach will, I believe, strengthen the credibility of your industry.

The lottery and gaming world of today is utterly different from that which gave rise to Intertoto and AILE after the Second World War. Implications of the new communication and information technologies represent a challenge in that respect. Today’s gaming organizations are facing the borderless reach of the Internet gaming and lotteries and its new avenues of distribution. In this new global environment, there will be an obvious need to protect national interests. In that connection, it is important that our cultural diversity be protected.

One of the major challenges facing lottery companies will be to stay attractive and engaging to people, when technology will bring a lot of new activities on the market. A challenge for you will be to develop skills in utilising the new media. However, as a politician I would like to express my concern as to the negative effects of commercial gaming entering into people’s living room.

You have come here to build relations for the next millennium and to exchange views on issues of concern to your industry. I hope that Oslo Relations ’99 will provide you with inspiration and new ideas, and I wish you every success in your deliberations.

Thank you for your attention.