for early access to the latest igaming videos!
and get the latest igaming news first!
The Norwegian Lottery and Foundations Authority has issued an apology following a significant technical failure that prevented numerous public tip-offs from reaching its oversight team for over a year.
Lottstift revealed that the glitch had caused hundreds of reports regarding illegal or unsafe gambling activities to go unsubmitted since March 2024, with the issue only identified in June this year. The majority of these tip-offs were likely related to illegal gambling operations within Norway, but some may also have involved concerns about funding for foundations and voluntary organizations.
The online submission form, which allows individuals to report issues anonymously, is the sole method for submitting tips to the regulator. Although players can also report concerns via email or telephone, those methods require them to disclose their identities.
In a June 19 update, Lottstift confirmed that the error had been rectified and that they were able to recover 120 tips from the previous two months. Unfortunately, many other tip-offs were automatically deleted due to privacy considerations, further complicating the regulator’s ability to address potential gambling violations.
Regulator Has Made Necessary Changes to Prevent Future Issues
In yesterday’s statement, Lottstift Director General Atle Hamar apologized for the ‘serious’ issue and acknowledged that the regulator should have identified the issue earlier.
“We depend on tips from the public,” Hamar said. “People should have confidence that the tips they send will reach us.
“Several hundred tips may be missing for us, but we do not have exact numbers. We will thoroughly review this and make the necessary changes to prevent something similar from happening again.
“People should have confidence that the tips they send will be received and that we will take them seriously. Getting tips is important to us. Several of our inspections start with tips from the public.
Source: NEXT
