In Poland and Norway the law makes providers block the gambling domains a regulator lists, but each provider applies the list in its own way and on its own day. Licensed brands can get caught too, by a wrong entry, a provider's filter or a block aimed at another site. To lift a wrong block, go to whoever ordered it.
Which countries make providers block gambling domains?
In Poland, every internet provider must block the domains in the Ministry of Finance register at hazard.mf.gov.pl. Since 1 July 2017 a provider has had 48 hours from a listing to block the name in its DNS (the internet's address book) and send visitors to a Ministry notice page, and 48 hours to unblock it after a removal.
Sources: Ministry of Finance, 28 March 2018 · Gambling Act of 19 November 2009 (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 595), article 15f
In Norway, since 1 January 2025 the gambling regulator Lotteritilsynet can order providers to DNS-block sites offering gambling aimed at Norway without a Norwegian licence. As of November 2026, 238 sites run by 72 companies are blocked, and in September 2026 it gave notice that 62 more may be blocked. On 4 November 2026 the culture minister told parliament that providers must block within a week of a decision.
Sources: Lotteritilsynet, November 2026 · Gambling Act § 32 a, Lovdata · Storting, question time, 4 November 2026
In Spain, the regulator DGOJ can have a site without a Spanish licence blocked as a precaution. In Germany, a federal court ruled in March 2025 that providers can in practice almost never be made to block gambling sites; a treaty change signed in March 2026 would allow it once every state ratifies it. The states' gambling authority GGL lists licensed operators, most with their websites, on its whitelist; it says licensed operators may only use .de domains.
Sources: DGOJ, checked 11 November 2026 · Federal Administrative Court, judgment 8 C 3.24, 19 March 2025 · Hessian state parliament, document 21/4544, 29 May 2026 · GGL whitelist, updated 2 November 2026 · GGL FAQ, updated 1 August 2025
Does every provider enforce a register entry the same way?
No. Each Polish entry is one exact name, and providers treat nearby names differently. In our check on 12 November 2026 of two domains listed without www., Orange and T-Mobile home lines and Plus mobile lines blocked only the listed name. Play, at home and on mobile, also blocked the www. version; Netia home lines blocked the www. version and made-up names under the domain too.
Sources: Gambling Act of 19 November 2009 (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 595), article 15f · register XML, checked 12 November 2026 · our checks, 12 November 2026
With 48 hours allowed per provider, your domain can open on one Polish network and fail on another for up to two days after a listing or a removal. Norway's regulator checks enforcement through providers' confirmations and its own spot checks. A register records the decision, not the day each provider applied it.
Sources: Gambling Act of 19 November 2009 (consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 595), article 15f · Storting, question time, 4 November 2026
What does a player see when the block hits?
Often not the notice the law describes. Orange and Plus send listed Polish names to the Ministry's server, public measurements show, but over https (the padlock in the browser) that connection hangs and the player sees an error. In Norway the notice reads "Nettstedet er blokkert" (the website is blocked) and, since 8 September 2026, must give contact details for Lotteritilsynet and the helpline Hjelpelinjen; Lotteritilsynet says some visitors instead see that the connection is not private, or that the page does not exist. They may think your site is broken, not blocked.
Sources: Globalping, Orange, gambling domain, 8 November 2026 · OONI, Plus, gambling domain over https, 4 November 2026 · Lotteritilsynet, November 2026 · Gambling regulation § 99a and its amendment of 8 September 2026, Lovdata · Hjelpelinjen, November 2026
How does a licensed brand get caught, and who lifts the block?
The route depends on who ordered the block, not on which provider shows it.
- A wrong or outdated register entry. In Poland the domain holder can object to the Minister of Finance within two months of the entry; the minister decides within 14 days. In Norway, write to Lotteritilsynet (postmottak@lottstift.no): it must lift a block once the reason no longer applies and the site owner asks, and an appeal goes through it to the appeals board Lotterinemnda within three weeks of receiving the decision.
- A provider's own filter. In the United Kingdom, EE, O2, Three and Vodafone block content they class as 18+ by default on mobile data; adult account holders can lift the block. EE's default lets gambling through; Three's business help page lists gambling among the categories it filters. If a page is classed wrongly, ask the network: Three takes reports at content@three.co.uk.
- A block aimed at another site. A block on a server address hits every site behind it. In Spain, the censorship-measurement project OONI found that IP blocks during football broadcasts made 554,507 domains unreachable at some point between 1 January and 1 June 2026, 90.4% of them on Cloudflare. A licensed site on such an address can become unreachable for those providers' customers: see collateral blocking in Europe.Source: OONI, 30 June 2026
What should a compliance team keep watching?
- Every register, for every name you use. The Polish register, Lotteritilsynet's list, your GGL whitelist entry. Search with and without www., and the domain above each subdomain.
- Each provider, at home and on mobile. The UK mobile networks' 18+ filters work only on mobile data.
- What the player gets. A notice page, a browser error and "site does not exist" lead to different tickets.
- The day a block starts and ends at each provider. Above all after a listing, a removal or a pending decision.
What linkspect answers for gambling operators
linkspect opens your full URL through home and mobile connections of named providers, such as Play, Netia and Plus in Poland or Telenor and Ice in Norway, and says for each whether the page opens and, if not, how it was blocked: a notice page, "site does not exist", a cut connection or a certificate that is not yours. In Poland the answer also shows whether the domain is on the Ministry of Finance register. A monitor repeats the check every 15 minutes to 24 hours; when a re-check confirms that a provider started or stopped blocking, it sends an event to your signed webhook and to GET /v1/events. A DNS block is reported as "likely" at most, and an account has 20 monitors by default. Early access is free.