Suspicious transfer: Norsk Tipping must explain itself
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4 Jun 2025 •
Reading time: 3 minutes On 15 May 2025, Lotteritilsynet launched an investigation into Norsk Tipping, the Norwegian state-owned gaming operator, following an alert from a bank reporting a large transfer of money from a minor’s account to the gaming platform. Under Norwegian law, gambling is strictly prohibited for people under the age of 18.
Although the authority has clarified that it does not appear that the minor created a customer account with Norsk Tipping, it suspects that existing customers may have shared their login details with minors, a practice prohibited by the operator’s terms and conditions. Tore Bell, director of Lotteritilsynet, said:
‘It is too early to determine what happened. We will continue our investigation and have asked Norsk Tipping to provide us with further information.’
Questions about payment methods
As part of the investigation, Lotteritilsynet has put eight questions to Norsk Tipping, in particular about the introduction of the Vipps and Apple Pay payment solutions. The authority wants to understand how the operator assesses these payment methods in relation to Article 7 of the Gambling Act, which requires appropriate control measures to detect abuse of customer relationships.
The authority is also questioning whether these solutions comply with the Money Laundering Act and whether Norsk Tipping knows whether the funds transferred belonged to the registered customer.
‘The information available to date indicates that some customers lend or share their customer account with persons under the age of 18 and that minors have not been able to establish customer relationships with Norsk Tipping,’ said the authority.
A context of increased surveillance
This investigation comes at a time when Norsk Tipping is already under fire. In February 2025, the operator was informed that it could face a fine of NOK 36 million (approximately €3.1 million) for a failure of its self-exclusion tool on its iOS app, preventing users from blocking themselves for several months.
In addition, in July 2024, a player was mistakenly credited with NOK 25 million on Norsk Tipping’s KongKasino platform, well in excess of expected winnings limits. Although the player reported the error and returned the funds, the incident highlighted flaws in the operator’s security mechanisms.
Norsk Tipping has two weeks to answer Lotteritilsynet’s questions about the transfer of funds involving a minor. The results of this investigation could have significant implications for the operator and for the regulation of gambling in Norway.
Towards a reconsideration of the monopoly?
These incidents are fuelling the debate in Norway about Norsk Tipping’s monopoly. Political voices, notably within the Conservative Party, are calling for the gambling market to be opened up to other operators under a licensing system, following the example of neighbouring countries such as Sweden and Denmark.
Conservative MP Tage Pettersen said:
‘In Norway, we can now create the best model based on the experiences of Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Nobody in those countries is advocating a return to monopoly!’