Norwegian Lottery Authority investigates claims of children playing at Norsk Tipping casinos
As the investigation is still in its early stages, Tore Bell, Department Director at the Norweigan Lottery Authority, has emphasised that it is “still too early to detemine what has happened.”
Key points:
– The Norwegian Lottery Authority has received 21 tips regarding children playing at Norsk Tipping
– Early findings indicate that this is through minors accessing pre-established accounts of older friends or family members
The Norwegian Lottery Authority is investigating claims that children have been accessing the Norsk Tipping after reports of a “large amount of money” had been taken from a minor’s bank account by the casino.
As part of the investigation, Anya There Marhus and Monica Alisøy Kjelsnes are acting as Senior Legal Counsel Advisors and have addressed a letter to Norsk Tipping.
This letter includes nine key questions, such as “You have received tips about 21 cases related to this issue since 1 January 2024. Did you consider notifying the Norwegian Gambling Authority about this?” and “When was the payment solution for Vipps and Apple Pay introduced, and what risk assessments were made in this regard?”.
Perhaps the most notable question in the latter is the last one: “How do you assess these payment solutions against the requirements of the Money Laundering Act when you do not know whether the funds belong to the registered customer?”.
So while the catalyst for this issue is underage customers being able to deposit money in the casinos through means such as Apple Pay, this has led to wider questions being asked about potential money laundering and customer verification violations.
Good to know: While it is unlikely that Norsk Tipping would lose its licence as a state-owned operator, it could face penalty fees if the operator was found to be negligent
The letter also explains that Norsk Tipping has already had at least three talks with the Norwegian Lottery Authority regarding this matter, with those dated the 8, 9 and 13 May.
Norsk Tipping will have two weeks to answer the questions and reply to the regulator.
This follows on from another investigation launched earlier this year, after the Norwegian Lottery Authority found that Norsk Tipping had been drawing wrong lottery winners for years.
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