Color Fantasy — 2004
Aker Yards, Turku. 74,500 GRT, 224 × 35 m, 15 decks, 966 cabins, 2,400 passenger capacity, home port Oslo, NOR register. Color Line’s year-built figure is 2004.
Guide / History
A casino hotel for Oslo exists at sea because it cannot exist on land.
This is a chronology of public law and two ships, not a marketing timeline of jackpots.
1961Jahre Line opens Oslo–Kiel
1990Color Line is formed
2004Color Fantasy, 966 cabins
2007Color Magic, 1,016 cabins
2022Paf renews a long-term deal
Norway licensed a monopoly on land. It did not license a casino on Karl Johans gate.
Norwegian policy gives Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto exclusive rights to high-risk gambling on land. Private land casinos are not part of that model. Lotteritilsynet publishes who may offer games. That is why this guide does not point to a boulevard casino in Oslo Sentrum.
The Gambling Act (pengespilloven) of 18 March 2022 entered into force on 1 January 2023. It gathers earlier lottery, totalisator and gaming rules into one statute. Lovdata records that the Act applies in Norway — and on Norwegian ships. The purpose published in the Act is to prevent gambling harm, keep games safer, and channel revenue to non-profit ends. It is not a licence for a Las Vegas strip in the capital.
- Lotteritilsynet is the supervisor. Their player-facing pages sit at lottstift.no.
- Hjelpelinjen (800 800 40) is the national helpline. Gambling remains entertainment, not income.
- If a land casino is later licensed in Oslo, Color Line’s ships will still be ships. We will not pretend this page is that venue.
The Oslo–Kiel hotel had to float because the city casino could not.
Color Line’s own history page traces the Oslo–Kiel connection to Jahre Line in 1961. Color Line itself was formed in 1990 from Jahre Line and Norway Line, and that year also took over Fred. Olsen Lines’ ferry activities. On 2 May 2011 the company marked fifty years of the Oslo–Kiel cruise line. The route predates the two hulls that now carry the casino.
Between 2004 and 2008 Color Line put four new ships into traffic: Color Fantasy, Color Magic, SuperSpeed 1 and SuperSpeed 2. Only the first two are the overnight cruise hotels with a named casino on deck 6. Color Line presents Fantasy and Magic as the world’s largest cruise ships with a car deck. On the same ships page it lists shops, restaurants, a water park, casino, spa and fitness, and international shows in a dedicated lounge — a hotel programme that moves between Filipstad and Norwegenkai.
- Color Line AS: Norwegian register (NOR), head office in Norway, organisation number 970 903 968. Booking telephone +47 22 94 42 00.
- Five purpose-built RoPax ships on four international routes. In 2024 Color Line states about 3.7 million passengers. The casino on Oslo–Kiel is one product inside that fleet, not a city concession.
- Color Line also owns Color Hotel Skagen in Denmark. That is a land hotel. It is not the casino described on this page.
Two sister ships, then a salon on deck 6.
Figures below are Color Line’s published ship facts. We do not reconstruct the opening-night table mix from 2004 or 2007.
Color Magic — 2007
Same yard and hull form. 75,100 GRT, 1,016 cabins, 2,600 passenger capacity. Sister ship on the same 14:00 Oslo–Kiel / Kiel–Oslo overnight.
Casino, deck 6
Opposite the buffet; Norwegian casino page says forward on deck 6. Slots, blackjack, roulette. Color Poker is listed on Color Magic. Age 18. Hours Color Line publishes today: 07:00–09:45 and 14:15–01:00.
A 2004 ship is not proof that today’s operator, hours or game list have been unchanged for two decades. For the live floor, use the current casino notes — not this chronology.
Paf is the named operator. The 2022 deal is the date they published.
Paf (Ålands Penningautomatförening) was formed on Åland on 31 October 1966 and began licensed gaming on 1 January 1967. Paf states it is licensed and controlled by the Government of Åland, with its head office in Mariehamn. On 22 December 2022 Paf published a new long-term agreement with Color Line to provide gaming entertainment on the shipping company’s five passenger ships: slot machines, entertainment games and physical tables.
In that same note Paf wrote it had already provided onboard entertainment for the previous six years — so the named partnership, on Paf’s own timeline, reaches back to about 2016, not to Fantasy’s 2004 delivery. We do not fill the gap with an unpublished earlier contractor.
- Thomas Gudbjerg, Color Line’s Executive Vice President Commercial & Hotel Operation on board, is quoted by Paf on responsible gaming as a reason the partnership continued.
- Paf’s 2022 note also spoke of “new and slightly fewer gaming machines” and redesigned areas. That is a company intention, not a live inventory for Color Fantasy or Color Magic. We still do not republish fleet-wide machine totals as if they belonged to one hull.
- Color Line’s Norwegian casino page later calls Color Poker a newer offer; the English page places it on Color Magic. We do not invent the launch week.
A ferry casino sits in a legal corridor, not in a city concession.
A dedicated regulation covers lottery activity on Norwegian ships in year-round scheduled traffic between a Norwegian and a foreign port, with capacity to carry goods and vehicles — the Color Line Oslo–Kiel profile. The current text (FOR-2008-12-10-1531) entered into force on 1 January 2009 and replaced a 17 December 2004 regulation. Beside ordinary lotteries it allows, with permission, prize machines, roulette and certain card games. Lotteritilsynet may cap the number of machines; the regulation also sets a ceiling of one prize machine per 25 certified passengers. That is a legal maximum, not a count of what stands on deck 6 tonight.
Play on a Norwegian-flagged ferry still follows Norwegian restrictions in port. Color Line’s published hours assume the ship is at sea. We do not invent a minute-count for leaving territorial waters.
Primary texts: pengespilloven · ship lottery regulation · Lotteritilsynet. If the statute moves, the statute wins.
What this chronology refuses to invent.
We do not reconstruct unpublished historic table mixes, historic jackpots, guest anecdotes, or a year-by-year operator list before Paf’s six-year claim. For today’s hours, named games and house rules, use Color Line’s casino page and our current casino notes. For help, use Hjelpelinjen — not a BrightMint inbox.
Hjelpelinjen: 800 800 40 (weekdays 09:00–18:00) · hjelpelinjen.no. Paf’s 22 December 2022 note: aboutpaf.com.