Lotteritilsynet to Investigate Norsk Tipping over Self-Exclusion Failure

Lotteritilsynet, Norway’s gambling regulator, is set to investigate Norsk Tipping over potential self-exclusion failures. As reported by local news outlet NTB, clients found themselves unable to exclude themselves from playing with the operator’s mobile app.

Players Were Unable to Exclude Themselves from Playing
The self-exclusion failure was self-reported by Norsk Tipping in June. According to the operator’s report, one or more players had found themselves unable to exclude themselves from the Norsk Tipping mobile app.

Lotteritilsynet acknowledged the report and decided that this is a sufficient reason to take a look into the matter. The investigation will check whether the issue constituted a regulatory violation and whether further action or penalty is needed.

The regulator believes that there could be a possible violation of the rules outlined in section 9 of the Norway Gambling Act. For reference, the section lays out a number of self-exclusion rules that gambling companies have to follow. Most notably, it requires the gaming monopoly to allow players to take a time-limited break from gambling.

Lotteritilsynet representatives told NTB that they cannot comment further until the investigation has been completed.

Norsk Tipping Has Rectified the Error
In the meantime, Norsk Tipping insisted that the issue has since been corrected. Despite that, the operator emphasized that the investigation into the matter is welcome and vowed to collaborate with the Lotteritilsynet. A representative noted that the company is happy to maintain transparency.

As per the Lotteritilsynet’s requirements, Norsk Tipping will now have to provide documentation related to the reported failure, including a description of the error and the measures the monopoly operator has undertaken to fix it.

The Operator Was Fined for AML Failures
This news comes two weeks after Norsk Tipping was slapped with a $427K fine over AML failures. According to the local authority, the gambling monopoly violated the country’s Gambling Act by issuing a huge payout to a player whose background it didn’t check.

Without a due diligence process, Norsk Tipping paid $2.25 million to a KongKasino player. In addition, Norsk Tipping breached the $9,500 payout limit in Norway and was reprimanded by the regulator.

Norks Tipping promised to take measures to rectify the issue in the future. However, because of the severity of the violation, the operator was also handed a fine.