Lotteritilsynet Fines Norsk Rikstoto for Breaching Player Loss Limits

Norwegian Gambling Authority Penalizes Norsk Rikstoto

The Norwegian Gambling Authority, Lotteritilsynet, has imposed a financial penalty on Norsk Rikstoto for failing to enforce player loss limits. The regulator revealed that the horse racing operator allowed over 800 customers to exceed their set loss limits, violating Norway’s gambling regulations.

Failure to Enforce Loss Limits Affects Hundreds of Players

According to Norway’s gaming laws, gambling operators must respect limits that players set to control their losses. These limits can be established by players but must not exceed a loss of NOK 60,000 (approximately $5,850) within a three-month period, including any winnings.

Despite these rules, Norsk Rikstoto permitted 806 players to gamble beyond their loss thresholds. This breach was attributed to a major technical malfunction that lasted from December 2022 until September 2023. The fault impacted Norsk Rikstoto’s Andelstorget and På Lagløsinga betting products.

Overall, players spent about NOK 4 million (around $390,000) beyond their approved limits, spread across 2,047 instances. Among these cases, seven players exceeded their limits by NOK 100,000, and one player wagered as much as NOK 643,000 (about $62,700) above their limit.

Quick Action Taken to Resolve the Issue

Lotteritilsynet stressed the gravity of this prolonged violation, especially since many affected players were categorized as medium to high risk. These individuals had actively chosen to impose limits on their gambling to prevent overspending.

The regulator highlighted that due to the technical error, Norsk Rikstoto failed to uphold these self-imposed restrictions, subjecting players to financial risks and loss of control over their gambling habits.

Although Norsk Rikstoto promptly addressed the malfunction and cooperated with authorities, Lotteritilsynet decided to impose a fine of NOK 6 million (approximately $580,000). This fine amounts to 0.63% of the operator’s yearly revenue, reflecting the seriousness of the violations.

Norsk Rikstoto has been given three weeks to respond to the penalty before it is enforced.