Lottstift, the Norwegian Lottery and Foundation Authority, issued a NOK46 million fine to Norsk Tipping for major technical flaws in their Lotto and Eurojackpot draws.
Norsk Tipping, a leading Norwegian online lottery and gambling operator, is facing a hefty fine of NOK46 million ($4.6 million). The fine was approved by Lottstift, the country's gambling regulatory agency, for operators' grave technical error relating to their Eurojackpot and Lotto draws.
Norsk Tipping received previous warnings regarding this problem. Lottstift flagged the problem and warned the company that it could be facing a fine, but it seems that no actions were taken to correct the issue, resulting in the regulator's recent decision.
Not a Level Playing Ground
The investigation by Lottstift discovered that Norsk Tipping players who were in gaming clubs and cooperatives had greater chances of winning during the Lotto "super" and Eurojackpot "extra" draws than those who played on their own.
During its investigation, the regulator found out that this particular issue has been present since 2015, and that Norsk Tipping has been aware of a problem with its Eurojackpot draws at least since November 2024. However, despite this knowledge, the operator decided not to investigate further.
Millions of Impacted Players
With this technical error in place for over a decade, Lottstift believes that millions of players have been impacted by it. Atle Hamar, the agency director, minced no words talking about it, saying that "it was aggravating" that such a major error was not discovered for such a long time.
Hamar continued to say that, considering Norsk Tipping's market position, players must be able to fully trust that the operator's games are safe and fair for everyone, and that the threshold for investigating potential errors has been too high.
It is worth noting that this isn't the first time that Norsk Tipping has found itself in hot water. In fact, this is the third time in less than a year that the operator is facing a penalty for breaching the country's gaming regulations.
A few months back, the company was penalized NOK36 million after a bug was discovered in its software, which prevented players who were self-excluded from blocking themselves from their accounts. In June, another fine was issued against Norsk Tipping for notifying thousands of players about excessively high Eurojackpot prizes, but this decision was placed under review.
The latest developments have caused the Norway Association for Online Gaming to voice its concerns as well, stating that financial penalties were perhaps not enough, and that harsher sanctions were in order. The Association believes that much stronger oversight is needed over Eurojackpot and Vikinglotto, the two largest games available on the platform.
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