Norwegian lottery hit with full regulatory review after spate of errors
The gambling regulator will review the entire process used by state-controlled monopoly gambling operator Norsk Tipping.
Norway.- The Norwegian gambling regulator Lotteritilsynet has announced a full review of Lotto, Eurojackpot and Vikinglotto, the lottery brands run by the state-controlled monopoly operator Norsk Tipping. The moves comes after a spate of regulatory breaches in the past year.
In a strongly worded statement, Anya Therese Markhus, senior advisor at the regulator, said that Norsk Tipping had “too poor control over its games” and that the regulator believes it broke the law in the latest controversy, in which thousands of players were wrongly informed that they had won huge Eurojackpot prizes.
The notification error, which led to the resignation of Norsk Tipping’s CEO Tonje Sagstuen, was blamed on human error when when converting euro cents to Norwegian kroner. But it was just the latest in a series of violations, which Lotteritilsynet was keen to list.
Last year, a player was mistakenly paid NOK 25m (€2.1m) from the casino game KongKasino. Meanwhile, players using iPhones or iPads were unable to self-exclude from Norsk Tipping’s games for four months due to a technical falt that wasn’t discovered until a player reported it.
The regulator noted that there had also been serious draw errors in the Eurojackpot and the super draw that led to players in sindicates and gambling clubs having a greater chance of winning over several years, with wrong winners in many draws.
“These cases show a fundamental problem in Norsk Tipping’s systems and controls,” Markhus said. “These are serious errors, and in addition there are several examples of Norsk Tipping not having discovered them before the consequences were major.”
The regulator said it will review the whole process of Norsk Tipping’s largest lottery games, from the submission deadline for players to the payment of winnings. The first step will be to collect documentation. The regulator also plans to have a physical presence at draws. It said it could not yet determine how long the inspection will take.
Vegar Strand, Norsk Tipping’s former director of strategy, analysis and business development, stepped in as acting CEO following Sagstuen’s resignation.
It remains to be seen whether the handover and increased regulatory oversight will lead to meaningful changes or merely seek to reassure the public at a time when a minority of MPs continues to call for Norway to follow Finland’s move to liberalise its gambling sector. The regulator has faced criticism too after it reported that it had ‘lost’ tip-offs from the public about illegal gambling.
