Latest news with #Sagstuen
UPI
01-07-2025
- Business
- UPI
Thousands of Norwegians incorrectly informed of big lottery wins
A currency conversion error led to at least 47,000 people in Norway being incorrectly told that they had won big lottery prizes. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo July 1 (UPI) -- The national lottery operator in Norway apologized after at least 47,000 people who won small amounts were mistakenly told they had won much more. Norsk Tipping sent a text message to 47,000 lottery players in the country informing them that their reported prize amounts for the Eurojackpot drawing had been mistakenly inflated due to an error in currency conversion. The operator explained the prize amounts it receives from Germany are given in euros, which are then converted to Norwegian kroner. The error occurred during conversion for the recent Eurojackpot drawing, when the number of euros was multiplied by 100, instead of being divided. Ole Fredrik Sveen, 53, one of the players who received the correction, said he was initially told he had won 1.2 million kroner -- about $119,010 -- but later learned his prize was only 125 kroner, or $12.40. "You could have been really unlucky and spent a large amount of money then found out it wasn't true," Sveen told The Guardian. "But thankfully we kept our heads cool and realized it wasn't meant to be this time either." Norsk Tipping apologized for the error, saying none of the incorrect prize amounts had been paid out. "Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect prize amount," the company said in a statement. Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen apologized in a separate statement issued Saturday. "I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us," Sagstuen said. "I have received many messages from people who had managed to make plans for holidays, buying an apartment or renovating before they realized that the amount was wrong." Sagstuen has since stepped down as CEO, and was replaced by acting CEO Vegar Strand. "We deeply regret what has happened, and on behalf of us at Norsk Tipping I would like to apologize to everyone who was affected by this," Strand said in a statement after taking up the position.
7NEWS
01-07-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
Thousands of lottery players mistakenly told they had won big in $76 million jackpot
Many of us have dreamed of a lottery win but for thousands of lottery players that dream has now turned into something of a nightmare. A few thousand players in Norway's EuroJackpot thought they had scored big wins in last Friday's $A76 million draw — only to have their elation quickly quashed. The players were mistakenly sent messages saying they had won 'high prizes' in the European-wide lottery, before later being told it was a coding error and the notifications were a mistake. The messages were sent by Norsk Tipping, which is the company which handles player notifications for EuroJackpot in Norway. It said it received prize amounts in euros then converted the figures into Norwegian kroner. The 'manual error' occurred in the conversion code. Instead of dividing the amounts by 100, as intended, the code multiplied the amounts by 100 — wrongly indicating 'big wins' for the players involved. 'The error was discovered after a short time but the damage was done,' Norsk Tipping said, according to New York Times which also announced the departure of Norsk Tipping chief executive Tonje Sagstuen. A remorseful Sagstuen said she had received messages from players who had started to plan vacations or buy a home. 'We understand of course that this is a breach of trust,' Sagstuen said. Norsk Tipping did not share the exact number of impacted customers. However, chairwoman Sylvia Brustad also admitted that trust had been broken. 'We are determined to clean up and improve ourselves,' she said.
New York Post
01-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Lottery company sent inaccurate notifications of massive winnings to ‘thousands' in Norway
An error at Norway's state-owned Norsk Tipping caused some people in the Scandinavian country to believe they had scored bigger lottery prizes. However, the information was wrong. Advertisement Norsk Tipping put out push notifications with inaccurate prize figures for Friday's drawing of the Eurojackpot after a 'calculation error when converting from euro cents to Norwegian kroner,' according to a translated version of a Monday press release from the company. The prize amounts should have been divided by 100 in the currency conversion, but a 'manual' error caused them to be multiplied by that figure, the company said. Because of the error, 'thousands' of Eurojackpot lottery players in Norway were inaccurately informed of 'excessively high prizes' via the push alerts, according to a translated version of an earlier release from Norsk Tipping. The company said it took the erroneous figures for prizes off its platforms on Friday evening after the issue was discovered, replacing them with accurate ones the following night, the press release indicated. Advertisement The error left many players disappointed. Still, Norsk Tipping said it did not lead to any individuals receiving incorrect windfalls from the Eurojackpot drawing. Thousands of people in Norway were mistakingly sent a notification telling them they won the Eurojackpot lottery. Friday's drawing for Eurojackpot, a lottery game available in a slew of European countries, did not yield a winner for its top prize. However, many players across Europe landed smaller payouts ranging from €10.70 to over €616,700, according to its website. 'We are terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many people, and completely understand that people are angry with us,' Norsk Tipping said in a statement to FOX Business. 'We have received many messages from people who had already made plans for vacations, buying apartments, or renovations before they realized the amount was incorrect. To them, we can only repeat our strongest apologies – although we understand that it does not offer much consolation.' Advertisement The company, which saw CEO Tonje Sagstuen step down and Vegar Strand appointed on Monday, also said it was 'taking every measure possible' to keep something like this from occurring again in the future. Friday's error was the 'latest in a series of technical issues' that Norsk Tipping has contended within the past year, the company said in a press release. It had been working to improve service to its customers with Sagstuen at the helm. Sagstuen said in a statement she was 'confident that the improvement processes we have started are in capable hands with the current team.' Advertisement Eurojackpot is one of the many games that Norsk Tipping facilitates for Norwegian residents. The state-owned company distributed over 5 million Eurojackpot prize payments last year, with 124 people in Norway becoming millionaires because of them, according to the company.
USA Today
30-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Thousands of Norwegians mistakenly told they won big in European lottery game
Norway's state-owned gambling company apologized for a "manual error" which notified a score of Norwegian lottery payers of incorrect prize amounts last week. Several thousand people were notified by Norsk Tipping that they had won "excessively high" Eurojackpot prizes on the evening of Friday, June 27. Norsk Tipping said in a press release that the mistake was "made in the code that is entered into our game engine" when converting the sums from Euros to Norwegian kroner. Norsk Tipping receives the prize amounts from Germany in Euros and later converts them to Norwegian kroner. Instead of the prize amounts being divided by 100, they were multiplied by 100. "The incorrect prize amounts were removed from the website and app on Friday evening. The process of sending out prizes began at approximately 03:15, and was confirmed completed at approximately 04:30," Norsk Tipping said in a statement. "SMS and push notifications were sent to customers who have consented to receive such messages." Fortunately for Norsk Tipping and unfortunately for those players, no customers were paid the wrong premium as a result of the error. "Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect prize amount," the Norwegian gambling company said. Norsk Tipping CEO apologizes, steps down after 'manual error' Tonje Sagstuen, former Norsk Tipping CEO, issued an apology to those who felt deceived, writing in a translated statement that she was "terribly sorry" to have disappointed so many and understood that people were angry. "I have received many messages from people who had managed to make plans for holidays, buying an apartment or renovating before they realized that the amount was wrong," Sagstuen said in a statement. "To them I can only say: Sorry! But I understand that it is a small consolation." The most recent incident was one of several serious errors uncovered by the company in recent months, according to Norsk Tipping. The "heavy criticism" from customers, the Norwegian Lottery Authority and the Minister of Culture as a result of those errors is "justified," Sagstuen said. Sagstuen announced she would be stepping down as CEO a day after the news was made public. Sagstuen had worked at the company since 2014 and had been CEO since September 2023, the company told CBS News. Vegar Strand, Director of Strategy, Analysis and Business Development, has taken the position of acting CEO in the interim. Strand also issued a statement addressing and apologizing for the mishap, saying they were "now working intensively to ensure that this type of error does not happen again." "On Friday evening, thousands of Norwegians were mistakenly told that they had won a large prize in Eurojackpot. This was an error that affected many and which we take very seriously," Strand said. "We deeply regret what has happened, and on behalf of us at Norsk Tipping I would like to apologize to everyone who was affected by this. We are incredibly sorry to have disappointed so many. " Norsk Tipping added in the statement that it is "currently conducting a comprehensive review of all its systems to ensure that similar errors do not occur again."
The Hill
30-06-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Thousands in Norway erroneously told they'd won millions in lottery
(NewsNation) — Thousands of Norwegian lottery players thought they'd finally hit the jackpot and become millionaires, only to find out it was an error. A conversion error led 'several thousand' players in Norway to be notified that they'd won big. Prize amounts, originally in euro cents, were multiplied by 100 rather than divided by 100 when converted into Norwegian kroner, according to local media. Norsk Tipping, Norway's state-owned gambling company, called the calculation mistake and the ensuing chaos a 'manual error' in a statement one day later. 'Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect prize amount,' the company said. Norsk Tipping added that 'incorrect prize amounts were removed from the website and app on Friday evening.' According to the company, no customers were able to cash in their incorrect prize, though some had already started planning what to do with their winnings. Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen apologized and stepped down from her role Saturday. 'I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us,' Sagstuen said in a statement.
