Norway’s regulator, Lotteritilsynet, has missed out on invaluable information due to an error in its tipping system.
According to the body, between March 2024 and June 2025, a serious error resulted in “several hundred” tips from the public, sent via email, contact forms and phone calls, not being received.
As a result, Lotteritilsynet has missed out on information related to violations of the country’s regulatory framework, damaging the work of the organisation.
“We rely on tips from the public, and people need to trust that the tips they send reach us. This is a serious error, and it took far too long before we discovered it,” admitted Lotteritilsynet in a statement.
The body also confirmed that the error was fixed upon its discovery and 120 tips were recovered. However, the rest were automatically deleted due to privacy reasons.
It continued: “That means several hundred tips may be lost to us, but we don’t have exact numbers. We will thoroughly review this and make the necessary changes to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.
“People should be able to trust that the tips they send reach us, and that we take them seriously. Receiving tips is important to us. Several of our inspections begin with tips from the public.”
Action plan against problem gambling
Lotteritilsynet, alongside the Norwegian Media Authority and the Norwegian Directorate of Health, are currently working towards preparing a new action plan against problem gambling for the period 2026 to 2028.
Stakeholders from across the industry are being consulted on the new plan, and Norsk Tipping has called for an increased focus on support for young people through campaigns and services aimed at the demographic to make them aware of the risk of gambling and help them identify illegal gambling offers.
Meanwhile, Gambling Addiction Norway (Spillavhengighet Norge) has put forward several proposals, including improving funding for support services and providing additional support to relatives.
