Recycling Lottery (Pantelotteriet)

Recycling Lottery

The Recycling Lottery is an environmentally friendly lottery where the empty bottles and cans are used as a stake in the lottery. The idea is that the Recycling Lottery will contribute to more recycling and create a lasting source of income for charities. The Recycling Lottery is run by Norsk Pantelotteri AS, a company owned by the Red Cross and the Olav Thon Group.

2021 was another record year for the Recycling Lottery. This led to the Red Cross receiving NOK 112 million for its humanitarian work from the lottery.

Revenues increased by as much as 22% compared to the previous year. In addition, the Red Cross received NOK 1.8 million from unclaimed winnings.

During 2021, an average of 11.6% of all empty bottles and cans were used as a stake in the Recycling Lottery. The biggest support for the Red Cross came from the customers at Meny CC Vest in Oslo, where the stakes from empty bottles and cans in the lottery were more than NOK 740,000. The lottery is now available at 3400 lottery machines across the country, and in 2021, for the first time, all Coop stores joined the Recycling Lottery. This brought in additional important funds for volunteering. The Recycling Lottery had a turnover of NOK 312 million last year. July was the best month ever with a turnover of over NOK 30 million. Since the start in 2008, the lottery has now contributed more than half a billion kroner to the Red Cross and their important work.

Over the course of the year, 16 people became Recycling millionaires and what happened in July, few had expected. One lucky person in Stavanger won two million winnings in one go and was able to leave the store with a lottery ticket worth two million kroner.

"Important funding in a demanding time"

"In these demanding times, the funds from the Recycling Lottery help us provide very important humanitarian aid," says Red Cross President Thor Inge Sveinsvoll.

"This incredible record is very good news for our work, especially now that we have particularly demanding situations in many areas," says Sveinsvoll.

"The funds strengthen our presence and activities in local communities across the country. Our volunteers work every day to save lives, reduce loneliness and improve the everyday lives of children and young people through safe meeting places and opportunities to talk. Being able to be present where the help is most needed requires large resources. That is why the support we receive from everyone who presses the Red Cross button is incredibly important," says the president. Half of the funds the Red Cross receives from the lottery go to the local Red Cross associations. The local association that received the most was the Oslo Red Cross, which received nine million kroner from the Recycling Lottery in 2021. They were followed by the Trondheim Red Cross, which received NOK 1.8 million, and the Bergen Red Cross, which received NOK 1.5 million for its local, humanitarian work.