A technical mistake by Norway’s state-owned lottery operator, Norsk Tipping, led thousands of participants to wrongly believe they had won large sums in the Eurojackpot draw.
In a statement released Friday, Norsk Tipping acknowledged that “several thousand customers received notifications of incorrect prize amounts.” The error has resulted in the resignation of the company’s chief executive.
The firm receives prize figures in euros from Germany, which are then converted into Norwegian kroner.
“During this conversion, a manual error was made in the code entered into our game system,” the company explained. “The amount was multiplied by 100 instead of being divided by 100.”
The incorrect sums appeared on Norsk Tipping’s website and mobile app on Friday before being corrected. The operator confirmed no incorrect payments were issued.
The incident drew strong criticism from customers, regulators, and Norway’s culture minister. On Saturday, Norsk Tipping held an urgent meeting with the Ministry of Culture to address the mistake.
On Sunday, CEO Tonje Sagstuen announced her resignation, having held the position since September 2023. “As the leader, it was my responsibility to manage the errors that occurred,” she said.
“Leaving Norsk Tipping and the dedicated team in Hamar is deeply disappointing. I will miss everyone, but I am confident the ongoing improvements will be handled well.”
Several participants told NRK they initially celebrated before realizing the error.
A couple in Herøy thought they had won 1.2 million kroner (£87,000) amid home renovations, while others considered car purchases or vacations before learning the notifications were wrong.
“It was a very exciting minute,” said Lise Naustdal, who believed she had secured nearly 1.9 million kroner (£138,000).
This is not the first time Norsk Tipping has faced issues. The company admitted to experiencing “several technical problems” over the past year.
Norsk Tipping has stated it will continue investigating the matter. CuriosityNews has reached out to the company for additional details.
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