Norsk Tipping to distribute NOK225m to grassroots sports

Norwegian lottery operator Norsk Tipping has announced that it is to distribute NOK225m (£17.7m/€20.4m/$22.0m) to sports teams and charitable organisations throughout the country as part of its Grasrotandelen initiative.

More than 30,000 associations in Norway benefit from the scheme, including grassroots sporting organisations, health bodies, animal charities and children’s associations.

Norsk Tipping customers select which initiatives receive the funding, with over 1.3m players having opted to support the scheme. Players choose one recipient, who will secure 7% of the sum they gamble, without it costing them any extra or impacting how much they can win.

For the first payment of this year, covering the period to the end of April, Oslo-based Association for the Relocation of Animals will receive the most funds, with Norsk Tipping to distribute NOK1.7m to the organisation.

Vålerenga Fotball, a football club also located in Oslo, will be given NOK1.1m in funds from the initial payment, while the Fredrikstad arm of community group Lions Club will receive NOK979,999.

Norsk Tipping noted that the overall payment of NOK225m will be only NOK3m less than at the same point last year, despite the operator having been impacted by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

“Due to the coronavirus, we have had to put many of the activities we love so much on hold,” Norsk Tipping’s managing director Åsne Havnelid said. “The Grasrotandelen scheme means a lot to many teams and associations, and it is with great pleasure that we now pay out grassroots funds for the first four months of 2020.”

In January, Norsk Tipping revealed it distributed almost NOK700m in gambling proceeds to grassroots initiatives across the country during 2019.