Norsk Tipping mistakenly notified thousands of players about false lottery winnings due to a currency conversion error, leading to significant disappointment as the state-owned gambling company acknowledges the breach of trust and vows to improve.
Lottery Lament: Norway's Norsk Tipping Misleads Thousands with False Jackpot Notifications
Lottery Lament: Norway's Norsk Tipping Misleads Thousands with False Jackpot Notifications
A coding error results in widespread confusion and disappointment for lottery players in Norway, prompting an apology from the state-owned gambling company.
In a shocking turn of events, a significant number of lottery players in Norway believed they had struck gold last week, only to find out that their excitement was misplaced. The state-owned gambling entity, Norsk Tipping, has publicly apologized after thousands received false notifications regarding “erroneously high prizes” linked to the EuroJackpot, a popular Europewide lottery.
The company's revelation came as it disclosed that a coding error was responsible for the mix-up. In a statement released on Monday, Norsk Tipping noted that “several thousand” players were impacted by the mistake, prompting an immediate apology for the incident. “We understand that this has led to false hopes,” said outgoing chief executive Tonje Sagstuen, who announced her departure from the company amid the fallout.
The situation escalated quickly, with players expressing their frustration over the false notifications, which influenced them to make significant personal decisions, including vacation planning and home purchases. Norsk Tipping explained that the error occurred when prize amounts in euros were incorrectly converted to Norwegian kroner due to a “manual error” in their coding system. Instead of dividing the values by 100 as required, the faulty code multiplied them by 100, inflating the amounts erroneously.
While the company did not disclose the exact number of customers affected or the inflated prize amounts they were initially led to believe, the total prize fund for the EuroJackpot draw on Friday was reported to be approximately $50 million.
Chairwoman of Norsk Tipping, Sylvia Brustad, recognized the loss of trust among their clientele and vowed that the company would work diligently to rectify their systems and rebuild their reputation. “We are determined to clean up and improve ourselves,” she stated, reflecting the need for the company to regain its customers’ confidence.
As of now, EuroJackpot has not responded to inquiries regarding the incident, and Norsk Tipping continues to face intense scrutiny from both the public and governmental entities regarding its accountability and reliability in lottery management.
