Embattled Norwegian Lottery Fined Over Error that Skewed Odds

Posted on: September 2, 2025, 07:27h. 

Last updated on: September 2, 2025, 07:27h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
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Norway’s gaffe-prone state lottery operator, Norsk Tipping, will face its third major sanction in less than a year after regulators found a long-running glitch inflated odds for players who pooled tickets at the expense of individual players.

Norsk Tipping, Norway lottery fine, Eurojackpot glitch, Lotto Supertrekning, Lottstift regulator
The Norsk Tipping logo featured on a lottery terminal, above. A bug in the operator’s raffle draws multiplied syndicate entries by group size, slashing solo players’ odds despite equal spending. It’s the latest in a series of frankly bonkers mistakes by the state-owned company. (Image: Norsk Tipping)

The Lottery and Foundations Authority (Lottstift) fined the operator NOK 46 million (about US$4.6 million) on Monday for irregularities related to the Eurojackpot “extra” prize and Lotto “Supertrekning” – raffle-style “tickets-in-the-hat” bonus draws that run alongside the core number games.

Lottery Bug

The bug counted entries for syndicate and group play incorrectly. Instead of giving one entry per syndicate (i.e., treating the syndicate as a single “player”), the system gave each member of the syndicate as many entries as the syndicate had lines.

That means a 10-person syndicate that bought 100 lines effectively contributed 1,000 entries, massively boosting their odds versus a solo player. If both spent the same amount of money on 100 lines, the syndicate’s winning chance was inflated to 10 times higher than the solo’s

Essentially, the flaw gave group entries “more tickets in the hat” for the national prize.

Norsk Tipping acknowledged that the issue existed from 2021 and possibly earlier. Some Norwegian media outlets suggested the bug dated back to 2015.

Monday’s decision is the third sanction in under a year for the hapless operator. In March, regulators ordered it to pay NOK 36 million (US$3.5 million) after iOS app users were unable to self-exclude for four months, a core safeguard under Norwegian law.

It also paid a NOK 4.5 million ($US450,000) penalty linked to a mistaken NOK 25 million (US$4 million) payout in an online casino game.

Inflated Jackpots

In June, Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen, a former Olympic handball silver medalist, resigned after around 47,000 Norwegians were mistakenly informed via SMS they had won life-changing jackpots after another technical error multiplied their real winnings by 10,000.

Norsk Tipping explained that it receives the prize amounts for the Eurojackpot lottery from organizers in Germany. These are reported in eurocents, so a €10 win is given as 1,000 eurocents.

In error, the operator multiplied this number by 100 instead of dividing by 100. This turned 1,000 eurocents into €100,000 – 10,000 times greater than the actual prize.

The prize amounts were then converted into Norwegian krone and temporarily delirious winners were informed of their falsely inflated jackpots.

“It was a fun minute,” one told the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).