Norwegian Lottery winners error has led to a nationwide mix-up, as Norway’s state lottery company issued an apology on Monday (30) to 47,000 players after mistakenly announcing that they had all won large sums of money. The false claims resulted from a currency conversion mistake, causing inflated prize figures to be displayed.
According to Norsk Tipping, the Norwegian state-owned lottery company, the mistake occurred following last Friday’s Eurojackpot draw (27). An error in the calculation—specifically, multiplying the prize amounts by 100 instead of dividing by 100 during the euro-to-krona conversion—resulted in exaggerated payouts being displayed.
Ole Fredrik, who was vacationing in Greece when he received a message from Norsk Tipping, thought he had hit the jackpot. “I thought, ‘Wow! It’s finally me? Is it true?’ I went to the Norsk Tipping website and it said in black and white, ‘Congratulations, you’ve won!’” Sveen recounted to NRK. In reality, he had only won 125 kroner (£10).
The company mistakenly sent messages to all 47,000 players involved, offering false hope. On Monday, they sent out a collective apology to those affected.
“The apology is no consolation. They should have sent it right after they made the mistake, not today,” Sveen added.
The lottery authority announced an investigation into the incident, questioning whether gambling laws might have been compromised. Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery condemned the mistake as “totally unacceptable.”
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Amid the controversy, Norsk Tipping’s CEO, Tonje Sagstuen, resigned on Saturday. The company’s vice chairman, Vegar Strand, took responsibility for issuing the apology.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the Mega-Sena lottery is set to hold its 2882nd draw on Tuesday (1), with an estimated jackpot of R$52 million. The event begins at 8 p.m. at Espaço da Sorte in São Paulo and will be streamed live on Caixa’s YouTube channel.
Players can place their bets until 7 p.m. via authorized outlets, the Caixa Loterias Online platform, or the official Caixa app. Norwegian Lottery winners error
