Norsk Tipping donates €20m to sports teams and charities

Norsk Tipping will deliver €20 million to sports and charities as part of its Grasrotandele initiative.

Norway.- Lottery operator Norsk Tipping will donate NOK225 million (€20.4million) to sports teams and charitable organisations throughout the country.

More than 30,000 associations in Norway will receive a benefit from the initiative called Grasrotandelen, including grassroots sporting organisations, health bodies, animal charities and children’s associations.

According to the company, customers are going to select which initiatives receive the funding. It added that over 1.3 million players opted to support the initiative.

Players will choose one recipient, who will secure 7 per cent of the sum they gamble, without it costing them any extra or impacting how much they can win.

For the first payment of this year, covering the period to the end of April, Oslo-based Association for the Relocation of Animals will receive the most funds, with Norsk Tipping to distribute NOK1.7 million (€152,959) to the organisation.

Vålerenga Fotball, a football club, will be given NOK1.1 million (€99,000) in funds, while the Fredrikstad arm of community group Lions Club will receive NOK979,999 (€88,000).

Norsk Tipping noted that the overall payment of NOK225 million (€20.2 million) will be only NOK3 million (€269,000) less than at the same point last year, despite the operator having been impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Due to the Coronavirus, we have had to put many of the activities we love so much on hold,” Norsk Tipping’s Managing Director, Åsne Havnelid, said.

“The Grasrotandelen scheme means a lot to many teams and associations, and it is with great pleasure that we now pay out grassroots funds for the first four months of 2020.”