The error in the special draw
On April 19, 2025, a so-called “super draw” took place. Due to technical problems, 52 players were incorrectly drawn as winners of millions in prizes. The cause was an error in the lottery system: bets placed through cooperative banks around Christmas and New Year's Eve were deleted from the system, thereby excluding the players concerned from participation.
According to the supervisory authority, a total of 16,698 participants were affected, which corresponded to about 0.2% of the ranks. As a result, the draw was not conducted correctly – some users received millions in prizes to which they were not entitled.
Norsk Tipping refunded the bets of the excluded players, but this is not enough for Lotteritilsynet: the incident constitutes a clear violation of the Norwegian Gaming Act.
Sharp criticism from the authorities
The reaction from Tore Bell, head of the gambling department at Lotteritilsynet, was particularly harsh. He spoke of “gross negligence” on the part of Norsk Tipping:
“The confidence that a draw is based on a secure foundation and is conducted correctly is absolutely fundamental to a lottery. It is therefore extremely serious when this is not the case.”
Bell also emphasized that Norsk Tipping had been aware of problems in advance. Nevertheless, the company gave assurances that the draw would proceed properly. The authority even considered stopping the draw, but was persuaded by the assurances.
Controversially, a security report submitted by Norsk Tipping shortly after the draw certified that the draw had been conducted properly—even though some of the participants had been excluded. For Bell, this was a clear breach of trust:
“It is incomprehensible how Norsk Tipping could determine that the super draw was conducted correctly without checking whether all ticket purchasers were actually able to participate.”
Next steps
Norsk Tipping now has three weeks to respond to the allegations. Only then will Lotteritilsynet make a final decision on the amount of the penalty.
This is already the third major incident for the state-owned provider within a short period of time: in June of this year, there was a serious glitch in a Eurojackpot draw, which resulted in the resignation of the managing director at the time. Previously, Norsk Tipping had to pay a record fine of NOK 46 million for years of errors in lottery numbers.
The latest glitch once again highlights the monopolist's failing internal control mechanisms – and could permanently shake public confidence in the state lottery system.