Norsk Tipping Faces Penalty Due to Long-Running Lottery Mistake

Norway’s government-owned lottery company, Norsk Tipping, must pay a NOK 46 million ($4.5 million) fine after the nation’s gambling watchdog discovered a major ongoing error in its Eurojackpot and Lotto “super draws.”

Lottery Bug Impacts Millions, Gives Group Entries Upper Hand

The Norwegian Lottery and Foundations Authority reports that the bug gave players who joined through syndicates, group pools, or cooperative banks much better chances to win than those who bought tickets on their own. This problem started in 2015 for Lotto and 2016 for Eurojackpot, affecting millions of players and thousands of draws.

Investigations showed that group entries made up as little as 4% of total bets in some years, but these groups won up to 38% of the extra prize draws. Regulators determined that every affected draw during this time had skewed results, which eroded trust in the games.

Norsk Tipping took steps to fix the problem once they understood it in early 2025, but the regulator criticized the company for not looking into it sooner. They pointed out that red flags had popped up as early as November 2024, and even though people inside the company had doubts, they went ahead with several draws before tackling the error. The authority called this handling “negligent,” emphasizing that a company with such a big market share should have had measures in place to stop long-lasting failures.

Constant Slip-ups Put Norway’s Lottery Monopoly in the Hot Seat

This is not the first time Norsk Tipping has been fined. In the last year, the operator has faced other big penalties, including NOK 36 million ($3.6 million) for problems with its self-exclusion system and NOK 2.5 million ($249,760) for a casino payout mistake. These repeated issues have led to a closer examination of the monopoly operator, causing the regulator to announce a complete review of Lotto, Eurojackpot, and Vikinglotto to make sure they follow the rules in the future.

The NOK 46 million ($4.5 million) fine is about 0.45% of Norsk Tipping‘s 2024 turnover, an amount regulators thought was fair, though they said the seriousness of the violation could have justified an even bigger fine.

The scandal has sparked fresh political discussions about Norway’s gambling rules. Some politicians say that allowing licensed rivals into the market could boost standards and improve player safeguards. As nearby nations shift to more open systems, Norway is on track to become the last country with a gambling monopoly in the Nordic area by 2027.

Right now, watchdogs insist that rebuilding public trust is key. They stressed that players need to be sure games are fair, open, and checked, a bar Norsk Tipping will face more pressure to reach as probes go on.