The Norwegian Lottery and Foundation Authority (Lottstift) has ordered Norsk Tipping to pay a penalty of up to NOK10 million ($1 million) for incorrectly notifying thousands of players that they had won excessively high prizes in the Eurojackpot game.
For the Eurojackpot draw on 27 June this year, some 47,000 people were told they had won a large prize. In addition, 30,000 of these players received SMS or push notifications on their phones about the supposed prizes.
The issue was caused by an error in a formula used to convert prize from euros to kroner. Prizes were mistakenly multiplied by one hundred instead of dividing by one hundred. There were no issues with the Eurojackpot draw itself.
Lottstift in July ruled Norsk Tipping had violated the country’s Gambling Act. However, the regulator stopped short of taking action while it carried out a review of the operator – although this remains ongoing.
Now, Lottstift said Norsk Tipping will be ordered to pay up to NOK10 million for the failing. This represents 0.1% of Norsk Tipping’s turnover, which was just over NOK10.2 billion in 2024.
The operator will have up to three weeks to respond to the ruling and set out any case it may want to raise to have the fine reduced. Norsk Tipping has already implemented several measures to avoid similar errors in the future.
Norsk Tipping to reduce charity contributions
In response to the fine, Norsk Tipping’s acting CEO Vegar Strand said the company is taking the violation of gambling regulations very seriously.
He apologised for the failing and said extensive measures have been taken to strengthen routines, monitoring and processes across the company.
“Our most important task going forward is to ensure that our games and services work as they should, and that customers can trust us,” he said.
As a result of the fine, Norsk tipping would reduce its charity contributions.
‘Serious breach of trust’ by Norsk Tipping
Lottstift Director Atle Hamar hit out at Norsk Tipping over the Eurojackpot scandal. He said players should be able to play games knowing that they can trust the operator.
“Players should be able to trust Norsk Tipping, and this is a serious breach of trust,” Hamar said.
“Of course, it must be brutal when you receive a notification that you have won a large prize, and then it is not true. This case is harmful to trust in Norsk Tipping.
“It is reprehensible that the error was not discovered in connection with either testing or controls, but only after the message about the incorrect prize amount had been sent to the players.”
In addition to the penalty, Lottstift will have “extensive” monitoring of the Lotto, Eurojackpot and Vikinglotto games offered by Norsk Tipping. This will form part of its ongoing review of the operator.
Gambling trade bodies across Scandinavia banded together to condemn a “lack of action” from the Norwegian regulator following the scandal. They deemed the incident “exhibit A in the case against state gambling monopolies”.
Previous Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen resigned from her post when the incident was revealed in June.
Multiple issues at Norsk Tipping
The Eurojackpot prize case was just one of several issues flagged at Norsk Tipping in recent months.
Earlier in September, Norsk Tipping was handed a NOK46 million penalty over a technical failing related to Eurojackpot and Lotto. The regulator found players in cooperatives, gaming clubs and cooperative banks had a greater chance of winning than they should have had.
Users who played alone had a lower chance of winning, with the error having been present since 2015. Norsk Tipping first became aware as early as November 2024 of possible errors but did not investigate it further.
In March, a NOK 36 million fine was also issued after a bug prevented self-excluded players from blocking themselves from their accounts. This followed a NOK2.5 million fine in 2024 after the company mistakenly paid a player NOK25 million in incorrect winnings.
Hadar said each case revealed “serious errors” at Norsk Tipping that need to be addressed.
“Norsk Tipping has too poor control over its games, and the cases show a fundamental problem in both the system and controls,” Hamar said. “These are serious errors, and they have not been discovered until the consequences are major.”
Norsk Tipping said it would have to reduce its charity contributions as a result of the fine.