Norwegian state-owned operator Norsk Tipping is facing a potential fine of up to NOK 25m (€2.1m) from the national lottery regulator.
The operator found itself in hot water with the authority as a result of an incident back in April where a super draw error led to 52 million-dollar prizes being incorrectly drawn by 52 individuals.
As per the Norwegian Lottery Authority, the issue occurred when bets submitted specifically through cooperative banks around Christmas and New Year were wrongfully removed from the later Easter draw.
This error resulted in around 16,698 people being omitted from the super draw, making the 52 winners invalid. Norsk Tipping has three weeks to respond before the authority goes through with its decision.
Tore Bell, Department Director at the Norwegian Lottery Authority, said: “Trust that the draw and the drawing basis will be correct is absolutely fundamental for a lottery. Therefore, it is very serious when this has not been in place.”
Further adding to the fire is the fact that Norsk Tipping assured the regulator on multiple occasions that there are no reasons for suspicions, even when the regulator considered stopping the 19 April draw.
These assurances supposedly continued even days after the draw, with Norsk Tipping submitting a preliminary safety report confirming that the draw was carried out correctly.
Bell added: “This is grossly negligent. Norsk Tipping did not check that all ranks were included in the draw, even though they had knowledge at the time that there had been serious errors in the drawing basis for a long time.
“We can stop a lottery that is not carried out correctly. We considered that in this case, but we received repeated guarantees that the draw would go correctly. It is unacceptable that there was still an error in the draw.”
This is the latest in a series of controversies haunting Norway’s state operator since the start of the year. It was only this September when Norsk Tipping got scrutinised again due to another technical blunder.
These are definitely not in favour of the operator, given that its future is currently being discussed by policymakers under the guise of shifting the market from a monopoly-based regime to a licensed framework.