Norway's gaming regulator just shut down Lyoness again—and this time, a name change won't save them.

The Norwegian Gaming Board reaffirmed in June that Lyoness remains an illegal pyramid scheme, crushing hopes that rebranding to myWorld would reverse the ban. The company had filed paperwork with regulators claiming the name change was legitimate. It didn't work.

This marks the second time Norway has come down hard on Lyoness. Back in January, the Gaming Board launched an internal investigation and concluded the company was running an illegal pyramid operation. They gave Lyoness until the end of March to shut down in Norway. Instead of complying, the company tried to slip past regulators by changing its name.

When the Gaming Board acknowledged receipt of the paperwork, some Lyoness affiliates claimed the ban didn't exist. The regulator put that notion to rest on June 4th with a blunt update: name change or not, this is still an illegal pyramid scheme.

The Gaming Board's final examination of materials Lyoness submitted confirmed what investigators found months earlier. Three problems stood out in the original decision handed down on March 31, 2018. First, Lyoness' Norwegian revenue came almost entirely from new affiliates joining the scheme, not from actual shopping. Second, affiliates were buying coupons, not goods or services with real value. Third, the company didn't properly track what money came from legitimate sales versus recruitment.

The ban applies to myWorld Norway AS (formerly Lyoness Norway AS) and parent company Lyoness Europe AG. Around 152,500 Norwegian participants and 1,000 Norwegian loyalty companies tied to the system were affected by the shutdown order.

Lyoness never stopped operating. The company ignored the March deadline and failed to inform affiliates about the ban. It had three weeks to respond to the June decision.

On February 12, 2019, the Norwegian Complaints Board rejected Lyoness' second appeal. The ban became permanent as of January 26, 2019. At that point, any realistic path to operating in Norway had closed. The company's business model wasn't just flawed—it was fundamentally fraudulent. No rebranding campaign could fix that.

🤖 Quick Answer

What did Norway's gaming regulator decide about Lyoness in June?
Norway's Gaming Board reaffirmed that Lyoness constitutes an illegal pyramid scheme, rejecting the company's attempt to circumvent the ban through rebranding as myWorld. The decision maintained the regulatory position established during January's investigation, confirming the organization's non-compliance with gaming legislation.

Why did Lyoness attempt to rebrand as myWorld?
Following Norway's January ban requiring shutdown by March's end, Lyoness filed paperwork to rebrand as myWorld, seeking regulatory approval under a new corporate identity. The strategy aimed to reverse the pyramid scheme designation and resume operations, circumventing the Gaming Board's enforcement action.

What were the consequences of Lyoness's rebranding attempt?
The rebranding strategy failed to alter regulatory conclusions. Norway's Gaming Board rejected the name-change justification and

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