Norsk Tipping, Norway’s state-owned lottery operator, is facing a potential fine of up to NOK 25 million after a major mistake in its Super Draw on 19 April 2025. After the error led to 52 people being wrongly announced as million-kroner winners, The Norwegian Lottery Authority issued the company a notice of violation.

The problem came from a technical issue that removed 16,698 players who had placed bets through cooperative banks during the Christmas and New Year period. 

Lottery Authority Calls Error Grossly Negligent

The Norwegian Lottery Authority said trust is central to the lottery system, and this kind of failure is very serious. Officials revealed they had considered stopping the draw due to concerns about possible mistakes but continued after receiving repeated assurances from Norsk Tipping that everything was in order. Days later, the operator submitted a security report claiming the draw had been conducted correctly, which later turned out to be wrong.

Bell described the case as grossly negligent. He explained that Norsk Tipping did not properly check that all numbers were included despite being aware of serious errors for some time. Although affected players have since been refunded, the Authority ruled that the draw still went against the Gambling Act.

Part of Ongoing Compliance Problems

This mistake is one of many others at Norsk Tipping. In the past year, the company has been fined three times, adding up to NOK 84.5 million, for issues like wrong payments, self-exclusion failures, and earlier draw mistakes.

With the current case, the operator is also facing a possible NOK 10 million fine for a mistake in June 2025. That error came during a Eurojackpot notification when a currency conversion formula went wrong, inflating prize amounts by 10,000 times.

The Lottery Authority has said that the repeated errors are happening within a short time frame hereby raising concerns about the company’s ability to manage its games responsibly.

Inspection Planned Later This Year

Norsk Tipping has three weeks to respond to the latest notice before the Lottery Authority makes a final decision on the NOK 25 million fine. If the fine is confirmed, it would be the fourth penalty handed to the operator within twelve months.

In response to the ongoing compliance issues, the Norwegian Gambling Authority has announced that it will carry out a major inspection this autumn. The review will focus on Lotto, Eurojackpot, and Vikinglotto operations to ensure proper checks are in place and that similar errors do not happen again.

The case shows the importance of trust in national lotteries. For many players, knowing that the system is fair is just as important as winning. For Norsk Tipping, rebuilding that trust is now its biggest challenge.