The new Norwegian government wants to liberalize the online gambling markey since the current laws governing gambling activity are quite outdated. But many poker players feel that is still not enough, since legislators still group poker together with games of chance intead of treating it as a game of skill. Because it is being treated as a game of chance the new legislation will force poker players to submit to the same safeguards as casino games players.
In response to this, Ola Amundsgård a professional poker player best known by his PokerStars nickname “Odd_Oddsen”, has issued a challenge to all Norwegian politicans to face him in a heads-up freeroll of NOK 1 million, paid by the poker player. “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” Ola explained.
There is at least one confirmed challenger to date, Erlen Wiborg from the Progress Party, who had this to say, “Poker player Ola Amundsgård challenges all Parliament members to 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.”