The penalty follows a systems error that caused bets submitted at cooperative banks during the Christmas and New Year period to be deleted from Norsk Tipping’s player database. The deleted wagers were excluded from the 19 April draw, resulting in the drawing being conducted with an incomplete pool of entries and generating dozens of unintended winners.
The Norwegian Lottery Authority had warned in September that the penalty was under consideration before officially confirming the fine this week. Norsk Tipping has since refunded the stakes of all affected players.
Regulatory Concerns Over System Reliability
Tore Bell, department director at the Norwegian Lottery Authority, stated that Norsk Tipping failed to verify that all valid bets were included in the draw, despite earlier technical faults having been identified in the operator’s drawing systems.
“The operator failed to verify that all valid bets were included, even though earlier technical faults had been identified in Norsk Tipping’s draw systems.”
According to the authority, concerns had been raised before 19 April, with regulators even considering suspending the draw. However, Norsk Tipping provided assurances that the process would proceed without errors. Those assurances proved incorrect when the fault occurred despite the warnings and previous system malfunctions.
In the days immediately following the event, Norsk Tipping initially reported that the Super Draw had been executed with the correct draw basis and accurate winning odds. Subsequent investigations revealed otherwise, leading to the imposition of the fine.
The case is part of a broader review of the company’s lottery systems, with regulators confirming that a major inspection of Lotto, Eurojackpot, and Vikinglotto operations remains ongoing.
Fifth Major Fine in 14 Months
The NOK25m penalty marks the fifth significant fine imposed on Norsk Tipping in just over a year, bringing the total to more than NOK100m. The series of penalties reflects what regulators describe as recurring challenges in ensuring the operator’s systems function reliably and that mandated controls are followed with sufficient rigor.
Previous incidents include a case where a player received NOK25m in erroneous winnings from the KongKasino digital casino product. Regulators initially issued a NOK4.5m fine, which was later reduced to NOK2.5m by the Lottery Board following an appeal by the operator.
Another incident involved players using iPhones or iPads who were unable to activate self-exclusion features for four months. The failure went undetected until a customer complaint was filed, resulting in a NOK36m fine from regulators.
Separate drawing errors in Eurojackpot and Lotto affected cooperatives, cooperative banks, and gambling clubs, creating elevated winning probabilities for certain groups over several years. After determining that every draw during the affected period produced incorrect winners, the authority imposed a NOK46m fine.
In June, several thousand customers received notifications showing inflated prize amounts, prompting the authority to impose an additional NOK10m fine.
The accumulation of penalties and technical failures has raised questions about the state-owned operator’s ability to maintain system integrity and compliance with regulatory requirements across its lottery and gaming products.
Source: Norwegian Lottery Authority
