Lottery apologizes after thousands mistakenly told they won millions

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The lottery organization expressed regret, and its head stepped down following an error where numerous participants were falsely informed about substantial winnings.

As a fervent admirer, I’d like to share that Norsk Tipping, the authority governing Eurojackpot operations in my beloved Norway, admitted an oversight. This hiccup took place during the process of converting the jackpot prizes from euros into our local currency, the Norwegian krone.

Eurojackpot is a transnational lottery started in 2013 and played by 19 European countries.

As per BBC reports, local media stated that instead of reducing the individual winnings by dividing them by 100, they were actually increased by multiplying, leading to incredibly high figures.

Regrettably, Norsk Tipping did not distribute any genuine winnings as a result of an error, and subsequently issued an apology for the confusion.

Eurojackpot lists the odds of winning its jackpot as 1 in 140 million.

Lottery apologizes for prize mix-up

The CEO of Norsk Tipping, Tonje Sagstuen, expressed sincere apologies for failing to meet expectations and acknowledged the frustration felt by many, as she stated in an official announcement.

The day following the incident, Sagstuen additionally verified that she had been receiving multiple messages from players outlining their intended use of the fake winnings.

She explained that she settled down, and then they informed us we’d won approximately $97,000 (980,000 kroner)! It turned out my companions and I were all lucky winners of substantial rewards,” the woman shared with VG.

Within mere moments, the app I was utilizing adjusted my winnings’ figure. “Twenty minutes down the line, I received a notification that I had bagged 97 kr ($10). One moment I was a millionaire, the next I had won just under 200 kr. It felt like a dizzying plunge on the world’s most precipitous rollercoaster,” I shared.

As stated by Eurojackpot, your odds of bagging the top lottery prize (exactly seven matching numbers) stand at a staggering 1 in 140 million. However, there’s also an opportunity to win smaller prizes with fewer correctly guessed numbers.

Initially, Norsk Tipping announced that 16,000 individuals had won different prize sums. However, this figure was later amended to reveal that 47,000 people were actually the winners.

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2025-06-30 16:48