Lottery scandal in Norway: 47 thousand players will not receive the promised millions
2 July 04:02
The Norwegian national lottery Norsk Tipping got into a scandal after 47 thousand players were mistakenly sent notifications about allegedly winning huge sums in the Eurojackpot draw. The incident was caused by a bug in the program code that resulted in a 100-fold increase in winnings. It was reported by CNN with reference to the company’s official statements, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs
What happened
According to Norsk Tipping representatives, after receiving the amount of winnings in euros from Germany, the company converts them into Norwegian kroner. It was during this conversion that a critical error occurred: instead of dividing by 100, the amounts were mistakenly multiplied by 100.
As a result, players received notifications and push notifications indicating fake, significantly inflated amounts. The company later sent out corrections and apologies.
“Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect winning amount,” the company said in an official statement.
No one received money by mistake
The company assured that no player was paid the incorrectly accrued amount, as the error was detected before the funds were transferred.
CEO apologized and resigned
Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen also personally apologized on Saturday, saying:
“I am very sorry that we have disappointed so many people, and I understand that they are angry with us. I’ve received many messages from people who had already made plans – vacations, buying an apartment or renovating – before realizing it was a mistake,” Sagstuen said.
After the incident, Sagstuen resigned from her position, and Vegar Strand became the interim CEO.
The company promises that this will not happen again
The new manager also apologized to customers:
“On Friday night, thousands of Norwegians mistakenly received a notification of a large Eurojackpot win. This is a serious mistake, and we deeply regret it and take it very seriously. We are working to prevent this from happening in the future,” Vegar Strand emphasized.
The jackpot is growing
Despite the curiosity, no one has ever won the main prize in Eurojackpot. Now the prize pool is 377 million Norwegian kroner (about $37.3 million).
