Norway’s state-owned gambling operator Norsk Tipping has reached an agreement with almost 17,000 customers involved in legal action over faulty lottery draws, avoiding a court hearing that had been scheduled for later this month.
The dispute centres on errors in Norsk Tipping’s drawing system that affected the Norwegian Eurojackpot Million draw and Lotto’s Supertrekning. The problems resulted in customers receiving incorrect chances of being selected over an extended period and eventually led to a group lawsuit coordinated by Norwegian law firm SANDS.
A major incident in April 2025 saw 16,968 eligible players excluded from a supplementary draw. As a result, 52 people initially selected as winners were later deemed invalid. Norway’s gambling regulator, Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet, subsequently found serious shortcomings in the operator’s systems.
The legal case had been due to begin on 24 August 2026 and was expected to run for four days. Instead, the affected players will participate in dedicated replacement draws without having to pay an entry fee.
According to details reported by Norwegian newspaper VG, the compensation arrangement includes NOK3m in prizes connected to the national Eurojackpot supplementary draw and another NOK1m for the Lotto Supertrekning, giving the replacement draws a combined prize pool of NOK4m. The allocation of entries is intended to reflect the amount of winning probability each participant lost because of the original errors, with the model reviewed by a statistics professor.
The settlement comes during a difficult period for Norsk Tipping, which has faced repeated regulatory action over technical failures and compliance weaknesses. The draw-system problems ultimately contributed to penalties totalling NOK46m, while a separate Eurojackpot error in June 2025 resulted in thousands of customers being shown dramatically inflated prize amounts.
That incident involved a calculation error during the conversion of Eurojackpot prize information into Norwegian kroner. Although incorrect amounts were displayed to customers, the mistaken sums were not actually paid out. The episode intensified scrutiny of Norsk Tipping and was followed by the departure of then-CEO Tonje Sagstuen.
Norsk Tipping’s repeated operational problems have also added to a broader political debate about Norway’s gambling monopoly. The country continues to rely heavily on state-controlled operators, with Norsk Tipping overseeing lotteries, sports betting and other gambling products while Norsk Rikstoto controls horse-racing betting.
The agreement removes the immediate threat of a large court battle, but the technical failures behind the dispute are likely to keep pressure on Norsk Tipping as Norwegian policymakers continue to debate the future of the country’s gambling model.