Thousands of Norwegians mistakenly told they’d won life-changing sums in lottery error

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"Norsk Tipping Apologizes for Lottery Notification Error Affecting Thousands"

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Original Article Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/30/europe/norwegian-lottery-winners-error-scli-intl
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Norway's national lottery, Norsk Tipping, has issued a formal apology following a significant error that misled thousands of players into believing they had won substantial sums in the Eurojackpot draw. The mistake occurred during the conversion of prize amounts from euros to Norwegian kroner, where a coding error caused winnings to be multiplied by 100 instead of being divided by 100. This error resulted in inflated prize notifications being sent to customers through messages and push notifications. The company quickly recognized the mistake and communicated a correction to the affected players, ensuring that no one had actually received the incorrect prize amounts. Norsk Tipping's statement emphasized their commitment to addressing the situation and preventing future occurrences of such errors.

The CEO of Norsk Tipping, Tonje Sagstuen, expressed deep regret over the incident, acknowledging the disappointment and anger felt by many players who had begun to make plans based on the erroneous prize amounts. Sagstuen shared that she had received numerous messages from individuals who had envisioned spending their unexpected winnings on holidays, apartments, or renovations before realizing the amounts were incorrect. Following her public apology, Sagstuen stepped down from her position, and Vegar Strand was appointed as the acting CEO. In a subsequent message, Strand reiterated the company's remorse for the incident and assured that they were taking the matter seriously, working diligently to ensure such errors do not recur. The Eurojackpot prize has now escalated to 377 million Norwegian kroner ($37.3 million) as no one matched all the numbers in the latest draw, with the next draw scheduled for Tuesday.

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Source URL: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/30/europe/norwegian-lottery-winners-error-scli-intl

Norway’s national lottery has apologized after thousands of players were mistakenly told that they had won large sums in the Eurojackpot draw due to a coding error.

Norsk Tipping receives the prize amounts from Germany in euros, then coverts them to Norwegian kroner. However, it was during the conversion that an error occurred and winnings were multiplied by 100, rather than divided by 100, the company said in a statement Friday.

Norsk Tipping sent messages and push notifications to customers that showed the wrong, inflated winnings, before later issuing a correction.

“Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect prize amount,” it said.

The company blamed the issue on a “manual coding error.”

“No customers have been paid the wrong prize,” it added.

In a separate statement on Saturday, Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen also apologized for the error.

“I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us,” said Sagstuen in the statement.

“I have received many messages from people who had managed to make plans for holidays, buying an apartment or renovating before they realized that the amount was wrong,” she said.

“To them I can only say: Sorry! But I understand that it is a small consolation,” added Sagstuen, who later stepped down and was replaced by acting CEO Vegar Strand.

The company then sent out another apology message signed by Strand.

“On Friday evening, thousands of Norwegians were mistakenly told that they had won a large prize in Eurojackpot. This was an error that affected many and which we take very seriously,” it read.

“We deeply regret what has happened, and on behalf of us at Norsk Tipping I would like to apologize to everyone who was affected by this,” said Strand, who added that the company was “working intensively” to make sure that something similar doesn’t happen again.

As no one correctly matched all of the numbers in Friday’s draw, the Eurojackpot has now reached 377 million Norwegian kroner ($37.3 million), with the next draw scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

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Source: CNN