The Norwegian Gambling Authority (NGA) has launched an official inquiry into potential underage gambling at Norsk Tipping, the state-owned betting operator. The investigation was prompted by a bank report indicating a “relatively large amount” of money had been transferred from a minor’s account to Norsk Tipping.

Since the alert, the NGA has uncovered 21 similar cases reported to the operator since January 1, 2024.

How Underage Gamblers May Have Gained Access

Initial findings suggest that minors did not register their own accounts with Norsk Tipping. Instead, they accessed gambling platforms through borrowed or shared adult customer accounts, violating both the Gambling Act and Norsk Tipping’s terms of service.

Regulatory Questions Remain Unanswered

NGA department director Tore Bell stated that it is too early to determine the full scope of the issue but confirmed that the regulator is actively seeking answers from Norsk Tipping.

“We will investigate the matter further and have asked Norsk Tipping for more information,” said Bell.

On May 15, the NGA sent a formal letter to Norsk Tipping, requesting detailed explanations on several key points, including:

• Risk assessments conducted before introducing Vipps and Apple Pay as payment methods.
• How customer identity verification is enforced to prevent underage access via third-party accounts.
• Steps taken to detect and mitigate unauthorized gambling by minors.
• How the 21 reported cases were handled and whether similar incidents occurred before 2024.

Additionally, the NGA is questioning why Norsk Tipping failed to notify the regulator sooner and whether the company had identified previous compliance breaches of this nature.

Potential Regulatory Violations

The NGA emphasized that allowing minors access to gambling via shared accounts could violate the Gambling Act, associated regulations, and the Money Laundering Act.

The regulator has given Norsk Tipping two weeks to submit its formal response.

Ongoing Compliance Issues at Norsk Tipping

This underage gambling probe is not the first compliance concern surrounding Norsk Tipping.

Earlier this month, the regulator warned Norsk Tipping of a potential NOK46 million (€3.9 million) fine over a long-standing system error that granted unfair advantages to certain lottery players.

Additionally, in 2024, Norsk Tipping erroneously paid out NOK25 million on its KongKasino product, vastly exceeding the NOK100,000 legal limit for online casino winnings, which resulted in a NOK4.5 million (€383,000) fine.

Furthermore, the company was previously penalized NOK36 million for failures in its self-exclusion system, which allowed at-risk gamblers to continue betting.