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A Simple Notification on the Cell Phone Was Enough to Bring Thousands of People to Euphoria. People Who Already Dreamed of a New House, Holiday or Early Retirement. But the Joy of the Prizes Did Not Last Long: It Was All the Result of a Technical Error in the State Lottery System.
For a few moments, thousands of people believed that their lives had changed forever due to million-dollar prizes. A technical error in the lotterya system caused 16 thousand bettors to receive messages falsely informing them that they had won million-dollar prizes.
The confusion generated euphoria, immediate plans, and soon after, frustration. The failure triggered a crisis within the responsible company, culminating in the resignation of the CEO and severe demands from the government.
Details of the Story
On June 27, thousands of Norwegians believed they had won fortunes after receiving notifications from the state company Norsk Tipping, responsible for lottery games in the country.
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The messages indicated million-dollar prizes from the Eurojackpot draw, with amounts reaching up to 13 million Norwegian kroner (about US$ 1.2 million).
However, the excitement did not last long. The next day, the company confirmed that it had all been a mistake caused by a currency conversion error.
Instead of dividing the euro cents by 100, as per the correct calculation, the system multiplied by 100, inflating the prize values.
According to the Norwegian press, approximately 16 thousand people ended up seeing amounts well above the actual values.
In total, 47 thousand players received some type of notification with incorrect data. One of them was the bettor Ole Fredrik Sveen, who thought he had won 1.2 million kroner (US$ 120 thousand), but the real amount was only 125 kroner — about US$ 12.
Resignation of the CEO After Crisis
The repercussions were immediate. Amid the criticism, the CEO of Norsk Tipping, Tonje Sagstuen, apologized and resigned from her position on Saturday.
She stated that she received several messages from frustrated bettors who were already planning holidays, renovations, or even buying property.
“I understand that people are angry with us. The criticisms are justified. Here, things went wrong in several places. This is my responsibility,” she declared in a statement.
Sagstuen had been with the company since 2014 and had held the CEO position since September 2023.
The situation led to an emergency meeting with the Ministry of Culture, responsible for overseeing the state company. After the meeting, Sagstuen’s resignation was formalized.
Government Reacts and Demands Measures
The Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery, lamented the incident. She stated that errors like this “should not happen,” especially because Norsk Tipping has legal monopoly over gaming services in the country.
“We expect the company’s board to take action to improve control routines. This is serious,” she told NRK.
Norsk Tipping admitted that it had been facing technical and operational problems. The company itself acknowledged that “several serious errors have been discovered in recent months” and that it had been “strongly criticized by the regulator and its customers”.
Corrected Values and No Financial Loss
Despite the confusion, Norsk Tipping confirmed that no value was paid incorrectly.
The actual prizes were updated still on Saturday, with the correct amounts in Norwegian kroner reflecting what had actually been drawn in euros.
The company assured that new improvement processes have already been implemented, trying to regain lost trust. Nevertheless, the episode became a symbol of how a simple mistake can affect thousands of people and cost a lot to the reputation of a state company.
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