Several thousand Norwegians are believed to have built up huge debts after gambling on the Internet, just like Bjarte Baasland has done. A psychiatrist specializing in gambling afflictions told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Tuesday that the official number of persons with heavy online debts "is just the tip of the iceberg."
Baasland, the 34-year-old son of Stavanger Bishop Ernst Baasland, is believed to owe tens of millions of kroner to persons who lent him money through his own mother.
Among them, reports NRK, are doctors, judges, lawyers and other professionals who turned over millions to the bishop's wife, Bodhild Baasland. She had led them to believe they were investing in her son's high-tech start-up firm in the Czech Republic.
Both Bodhild and Bjarte Baasland are now charged with fraud, while the bishop and his wife also have been declared bankrupt. The bishop, who faces losing his high position in the Norwegian state church, has claimed that neither he nor his wife were aware until a few months ago that their son hadn't founded any high-tech firm and instead had gambled away the money they had sent to him.
The drama indicates that the bishop and his wife nonetheless had significant fund-raising capabilities. Many of those who turned over money to them, however, want to remain anonymous and won't be party to the claims unraveling in the bankruptcy court.
Some had reportedly lent the Baaslands as much as NOK 1 million (nearly USD 200,000) but are now simply realizing their losses.
