Norsk Tipping faces potential NOK 25m fine over lottery draw error
The Norwegian Lottery Authority has issued a notification to Norsk Tipping over a technical error that occurred during the Super Draw on 19 April 2025, which led to 52 incorrect million-kroner winners being announced.
Key points:
– Norsk Tipping faces a potential NOK 25m fine after a technical error excluded 16,698 players from an April 2025 lottery draw, resulting in 52 incorrect million-kroner prize winners
– The Norwegian Lottery Authority deemed the violation “grossly negligent,” criticising Norsk Tipping for providing false assurances
– The incident is the latest in a series of compliance failures at the state-owned operator
The Norwegian Lottery Authority has issued Norsk Tipping a notice of violation following an error in the 19 April 2025 super draw that resulted in 52 incorrect winners of million-kroner prizes.
As such, the state-owned operator now faces a potential fine of up to NOK 25m.
The issue stemmed from a technical error that deleted players who had placed bets through cooperative banks during the Christmas and New Year period, excluding them from the Easter draw. This affected 16,698 participants, representing 0.2% of entries, and led to incorrect winners being selected for 52 million-kroner prizes.
Commenting on the matter, Tore Bell, Director of the Norwegian Lottery Authority, stated: “Trust that the draw and the basis for the draw will be correct is absolutely fundamental for a lottery. Therefore, it is very serious when this has not been in place.”
The authority considered stopping the draw due to suspicions of potential errors but received repeated assurances from Norsk Tipping that it would proceed correctly.
Days after the draw, Norsk Tipping submitted a preliminary security report confirming the super draw was conducted with the correct drawing basis, which later proved inaccurate.
Bell went on to describe the incident as “grossly negligent,” noting that Norsk Tipping failed to verify all numbers were included despite having knowledge of serious errors in the draw basis over an extended period.
While affected players have since received refunds, the Lottery Authority maintains the draw violated the Gambling Act.
Good to know: Norsk Tipping has three weeks to respond to the notice before a final decision is made
This would mark the fourth fine issued to Norsk Tipping within the past year, following penalties totalling NOK 84.5m for various violations, including incorrect payments, player self-exclusion failures and previous lottery draw errors.
The operator also faces a potential NOK 10m fine for a June 2025 Eurojackpot notification error that inflated prize amounts by 10,000 times due to a currency conversion formula mistake.
In response to repeated compliance failures, the Norwegian Gambling Authority has announced a major inspection this autumn covering Lotto, Eurojackpot and Vikinglotto operations.
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