Thousands in Norway celebrated becoming millionaires ... only to be told it was a lottery error
Thousands of Norwegians were ecstatic to receive notifications from the country’s state-owned lottery company telling them they had just become millionaires – only for them to later discover it was a mistake.
The country’s government-owned Norsk Tipping said a “manual error” resulted in customers being wrongly informed on Friday that that they had won “excessively high prizes”.
According to local news outlets, the company believes “several thousand” people who won prizes in the Eurojackpot had been notified of incorrect amounts.
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The mistake stemmed from a conversion error when winnings in Euros, which the company receives from Germany, were converted to Norwegian kroner.
Norsk Tipping has said the prize totals were multiplied by 100 instead of divided by 100.
One woman in the middle of a renovation project told Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation that she received a notification she had won 1.2 million kroner ($182,000) but instead received only a small fraction of that sum.
Norsk Tipping chief executive Tonje Sagstuen released a statement on Saturday to address the company’s blunder.
“I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us,” she said.
“I have received many messages from people who had managed to make plans for holidays, buying an apartment or renovating before they realised that the amount was wrong.
“To them I can only say sorry, but I understand that it is a small consolation,” she said, adding that the mistake was a “breach of trust” for consumers.
On Sunday, the Norsk Tipping board held an emergency meeting with the Norwegian Government’s Ministry of Culture, which ended with Ms Sagstuen stepping down from the company.
Norway’s Minister of Culture and Equality Lubna Jaffery criticised the company after the meeting, saying that “such mistakes should not happen”.
“We expect their board to work actively to improve the control routines,” she said.
Norsk Tipping is investigating the incident.
Originally published on PerthNow
