In Germany you feed the machine, take the slip, and collect the cash at checkout. In Norway the machine opens a second door: instead of taking your deposit back, one tap donates it to the Red Cross and enters you automatically into the bottle lottery. A Finanzfluss video dated 10 September 2026 puts this mechanism under the microscope.
The mechanics are simple. Norway charges 2 kroner on small bottles and 3 on larger ones; the non-profit Infinitum runs the system, and the national return rate exceeds 95 percent. A lottery entry costs only 0.50 kroner per slip, prizes range from 50 kroner to one million, and the result prints directly on the ticket.
The scale is surprisingly large. According to the Red Cross, 24 people became millionaires through this lottery last year. One million kroner converts to roughly 85 to 90 thousand euros at current rates: no fortune, but a remarkable sum for a single-bottle bet. SPAR Norway shoppers alone generated about 7 million kroner in donations in one year.
The comparison with Germany is instructive. Germany charges a flat 25 cents on single-use containers, with no charity game attached to the refund. The Norwegian model layers a one-tap donation option onto a habit people already have; no separate ticket, kiosk, or decision is required.
Following the money complicates the picture. Operator Thon reports that about 34.5 percent of gross revenue goes to the Red Cross, 35 percent back to players as prizes, and 9.75 percent to the stores running the machines; the rest stays with the operating company. That company is majority-owned by the property-focused Olav Thon Group.
This split feeds the criticism the video itself raises: of every 100 kroner left with charitable intent, only a third reaches aid work directly. Defenders reply that without the lottery thrill, much of these bottles and donations would never exist; critics argue the same money donated directly would do more good.
On balance, Norway seems to have wrapped recycling discipline in a small thrill and converted it into steady charity income. In the debate over copying the system in Germany, the real question is not technical: is society comfortable meeting a gambling mechanic and generosity on the same slip?
AI commentary
"To me the clever part of this system is not the jackpot but the frictionlessness: one tap on a slip you already hold turns recycling into giving. Still, printing gambling and charity on the same slip gives me pause."
AI assessment
Let me steelman the opposing case: gambling is most questionable exactly where it dresses up as charity. For a low-income person a bottle deposit is not pocket money but budget, and every machine visit becomes a bet offer under a charitable cover. I take this objection seriously, because money raised through lottery thrill may do less good than money that would have been donated directly without any thrill.
Two gaps remain in the video. First, player profile and behavioral effects: who plays, how often, and is problematic play monitored? Second, the comparison with the alternative: how much would a plain donate button in the same stores collect? Without these two data points, the net social contribution of the system is hard to measure.
On verifiability the picture is decent but single-sourced. The revenue split comes from the operator's own pages, the millionaire count from a Red Cross statement. I would not treat these figures as decision-grade without an independent audit or academic impact study; still, the directions check out, with the return rate backed by Infinitum data and the German 25-cent figure by legislation.
My practical takeaway: for a country where the deposit habit is already entrenched, this model is a remarkable side revenue worth trying. But I would first test frictionless direct donation before growing gifts through gambling. Personally I would press the button on the slip, viewing it as an entertaining levy rather than philanthropy.
Sources
7 links; no other published story cites them. Stories sharing a link do not confirm each other; a source's origin is not inferred from how often it is cited.
- @Finanzfluss — bölüm videosu Finanzfluss — bölüm videosu
- @pantelotteriet.no https://pantelotteriet.no/english
- @thon.no https://thon.no/en/social-responsibility/thon-gives-back/recycling--lottery
- @infinitum.no https://infinitum.no/en/the-deposit-system/what-can-be-returned-for-deposit
- @spar-international.com https://spar-international.com/news/spar-norway-customers-donate-close-to-e335000-to-red-cross-via-recycling-lottery
- @how-to-germany.com https://www.how-to-germany.com/pfand-in-germany
- @civilsocietyeurope.eu https://civilsocietyeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/supporting-civil-society-under-pressure-how-charity-lotteries-can-help-reshape-the-funding-landscape-in-europe.pdf
stock market · bottle · millionaire · norway · deposit · lottery · nodesdaily