A Norwegian man has been given a custodial sentence after it was found he fraudulently submitted applications for lottery funding.
The unnamed individual was highlighted as part of a release by the Scandinavian nation’s gambling regulator, the Lottery and Foundations Authority.
Norwegian lottery fraud: man abuses COVID-19 support scheme
Credit: Lotteri- og stiftelsestilsynet
According to the gambling regulator and the Oslo District Court, he was found to have abused the charity fund to commit premeditated social security fraud.
The sentencing includes attempted fraud against a subsidiary scheme that was created to support charity efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This included the individual applying for funding for compensation for six different events that the regulator automatically processed. Although the lottery funding arm of Norway did not process the payments, they were still submitted for supposed compensation of NOK 1.3 million ($127,000).
The fraud was discovered by “manual processing after a risk assessment,” says Department Director Marianne Skjeldestad Hove at the Lottery and Foundations Authority.
Sentence handed out by the Oslo court
“The support schemes developed during the pandemic were important in a crisis situation, but they were also vulnerable to fraud and exploitation by criminals,” said Senior State Prosecutor Petter Nordeng.
It was also found that the individual was the recipient of other state benefits, whilst living in Türkiye, to the tune of NOK 500,000 ($49,000).
In January of 2025, the man was extradited from Bulgaria as part of a concentrated effort by the authorities and based on an initial report by the Lottery and Foundations Authority in 2022.
Nordeng concluded, “The case shows that the police are able to prosecute criminals, even if the perpetrator left Norway and resided in another country.”
The ruling handed down by the court in Oslo gave the individual a one-year and two-month custodial sentence.
Since the initiation of the support schemes to help charities and small businesses navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, there have been 23,000 applicants.
“Very few have abused the trust-based schemes for volunteering during the corona (COVID-19) pandemic, but five people have now been convicted of fraud in the legal system,” says the regulator.
As we reported in July, the gambling guardian has cracked down on fraud, such as the Norsk Tipping breach of betting legislation.
However, Secretary General of the Norwegian Industry Association for Online Gaming, Carl Fredrik Stenstrøm, has been publicly critical of the Lottery and Foundations Authority.
He believes that Norway’s closed market with stringent nationally controlled operators is the cause for leniency in dealing with breaches.
“In a more open market, the provider would have been ordered to close its operations after so many serious violations of the Gambling Act. However, the likelihood of this happening to Norsk Tipping is small. The economic consequences are too great for that.”
Featured image: Lottsift official
