Latest news with #TonjeSagstuen
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Thousands of Norwegians mistakenly told they'd won life-changing sums in lottery error
By Jack Guy and Henrik Pettersson, CNN Lottery winnings were multiplied by 100, rather than divided by 100, during the currency conversion. Photo: Supplied Norway's national lottery has apologized after thousands of players were mistakenly told that they had won large sums in the Eurojackpot draw due to a coding error. Norsk Tipping receives the prize amounts from Germany in euros, then coverts them to Norwegian kroner. However, it was during the conversion that an error occurred and winnings were multiplied by 100, rather than divided by 100, the company said in a statement Friday. Norsk Tipping sent messages and push notifications to customers that showed the wrong, inflated winnings, before later issuing a correction. "Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect prize amount," it said. The company blamed the issue on a "manual coding error". "No customers have been paid the wrong prize," it added. In a separate statement on Saturday, Norsk Tipping chief executive Tonje Sagstuen also apologized for the error. "I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us," said Sagstuen in the statement. "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," she said. "To them I can only say: Sorry! But I understand that it is a small consolation," added Sagstuen, who later stepped down and was replaced by acting chief executive Vegar Strand. The company then sent out another apology message signed by Strand. "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," it read. "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," said Strand, who added that the company was "working intensively" to make sure that something similar doesn't happen again. As no one correctly matched all of the numbers in Friday's draw, the Eurojackpot has now reached 377 million Norwegian kroner (NZ$61.4 million), with the next draw scheduled to take place on Tuesday. - CNN
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
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. GameStop customers could be entitled to $4.5M settlement 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. How to file for unemployment 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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
7NEWS
a day ago
- 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.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Norwegian lottery apologizes after thousands mistakenly told they won millions
Norsk Tipping, the Norwegian operator of the Eurojackpot lottery, has issued a public apology after thousands of players were mistakenly informed they had won massive lottery prizes. The error, which stemmed from a currency conversion mistake, resulted in inflated prize amounts being displayed to participants. The mistake occurred during the conversion of winnings from euros to Norwegian kroner. Instead of dividing the euro amounts to calculate the correct prize in kroner, the system multiplied them, creating the illusion that players had won life-changing sums of money. According to a report from the BBC, some players were shown winnings nearly 100 times larger than their actual payouts. Norsk Tipping confirmed that no incorrect winnings were paid out. However, the emotional toll was significant. CEO Tonje Sagstuen issued a formal apology, stating, 'I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us.' She resigned from her position a day after the incident. Many players shared stories of excitement quickly turning into disappointment. One woman told Norwegian outlet VG that she believed she had won 980,000 kroner (around $97,000), only to later learn she had actually won 97 kroner (about $10). 'It felt like the world's steepest rollercoaster,' she said. Initially, Norsk Tipping reported that 16,000 people were affected, but that number was later corrected to 47,000. Eurojackpot, which operates across 19 European countries, has odds of 1 in 140 million for hitting the grand prize, though smaller prizes are awarded for fewer matching numbers.
New York Post
a day ago
- 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.
