SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
A range of Norwegian betting and sports stakeholders have mapped out a collaborative plan to combat match manipulation.
The country’s major sports organisations, gaming companies, the government and the regulator, Lottstift, have set out a plan for 2025-28..
There is now an increasing number of international gaming operators that offer betting on Norwegian sports, which officials fear may increase the risk of betting manipulation.
Notably, the gaming regulator states that there is reason to believe that many gaming companies do not report abnormal activity.
Eirik Tysse, Lottstift Senior Advisor, commented: “Steps are being taken to strengthen preventive work and increase the chances of uncovering and responding to manipulation of sports competitions.
“We need to increase knowledge and awareness about the regulations regarding the manipulation of sports competitions.”
The organisation has formed a strategic plan in collaboration with Norwegian Sports Federation and Olympic and Paralympic Committee (NIF), Norwegian Football Association (NFF), The Norwegian Trotting Society (DNT), Norwegian Betting (NT), Norwegian Rikstoto (RT), alongside Lottstift, the police and Ministry of Culture.
Three pronged approach against match fixing
The initiative aims to combat illegal gambling by assessing the need for new legal frameworks and ensuring that involved actors have sufficient tools to uncover manipulation.
Led by Lottstift, the strategy will follow three key focus areas – anchoring roles and responsibility of key players; strengthening preventative work and strengthening the possibilities for uncovering and responding to manipulation of sports competitions.
The first focus area will initiate information sharing between all key parties to develop relationships between organisations in a united front against betting manipulation.
Sports organisations will report on relevant information that comes to their attention within their competitions, while gaming companies will take a similar approach to the gaming industry. The Police and the Ministry of Culture will then intervene where necessary.
The focus on increasing awareness and strengthening preventative work will see the launch of Information campaigns on the manipulation of sports competitions, delivered to key parties within the collaboration.
The campaign will also involve threat assessments, gaining insights into which aspects make an individual sport vulnerable to manipulation attempts. These assessments will be conducted for all Norwegian sports and repeated at regular intervals such as every two years.
Finally, the focus on strengthening the uncovering of manipulation will see information sharing increased both on a national and international level. Gambling companies will be encouraged to introduce systems that identify irregular gaming patterns and suspicious bets.
