Thousands of hopeful lottery players in Norway faced a harsh reality last week when they learned that their anticipated winnings were nothing but a mistake. The state-owned gambling organization Norsk Tipping revealed that a significant error occurred, causing several thousand players to believe they had won “erroneously high prizes” in the EuroJackpot lottery.
In an official statement, Norsk Tipping explained that the miscommunication stemmed from a coding issue that led to false notifications being sent to its customers. Chief Executive Tonje Sagstuen publicly apologized for the blunder, admitting that numerous players had already begun planning vacations or major purchases based on the inaccurate information.
The timing of the mistake became more prominent as it coincided with Sagstuen's departure from her position. She expressed deep regret over what she termed “false hopes” for the players, acknowledging that trust had been compromised due to the incident. The company stated that while the error was quickly identified, the psychological impact on players was already done and considerable.
The issue arose when Norsk Tipping, which manages EuroJackpot notifications in Norway, miscalculated the currency conversion from euros to Norwegian kroner. Instead of dividing the winnings by 100, the company accidentally multiplied them by 100 due to a “manual error” in their coding.
While the total prize fund for Friday’s EuroJackpot draw hovered around $50 million, the company has not disclosed specifics about how many customers were affected by the notifications or how much they were mistakenly told they had won.
In the face of growing criticism from both customers and officials, chairwoman Sylvia Brustad stated that the company is dedicated to regaining the public’s trust and will implement measures for improvement moving forward. As the story continues to unfold, Norsk Tipping is under scrutiny to ensure such errors do not occur again.
