Millionaires by mistake? Lottery Technical Error deceives thousands in Norway

Failure to convert the coin made gamblers receive messages with prizes far above the real. CEO of the Norsk State Lottery Tipping resigned after the case. EurojackPot Wikimedia/Public Domain thousands of Norwegian believed, by mistake, became millionaires last Friday (27). The confusion came after they received notifications from the Norsk Tipping state lottery saying they won overwhelming awards. The shipments, however, were the result of a serious technical error of Norsk Tipping. According to the state -owned company, “thousands” of people who won awards in the European Eurojackpot lottery were notified with incorrect values. The Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang reported that 19,000 people received notifications for Push and 13,000 by SMS with altered prizes – and that some of them may have received for the two channels. According to the state lottery, the error occurred in the conversion of cents from euros to Norwegian crowns, which caused the values ​​of the awards to appear “excessively high.” According to BBC report, the amount was multiplied by 100, rather than divided by 100. The error resulted in the resignation of Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen, who apologized and resigned the next day. For the payment of prizes in the country, the state company usually receives the amounts of Germany in euros. Then convert to the local currency. The correct amounts were updated on Saturday night and the company assured that no incorrect payment was made. “I am deeply sorry for terms disappointed so many people and I understand that they are angry with us,” Sagstuen said in an official statement, adding that “the criticism is justified” in the face of “breach of confidence.” She said she received several messages from people who were already making plans to travel, renovate the house or buy an apartment, says BBC report. “These people can only say: I’m sorry! But I understand that this is a very small consolation,” he said. A woman, who was in the middle of a renovation, reported to the public broadcaster NRK received a notification saying she had won 1.2 million crowns (approximately $ 119,000 or £ 87,000). But in the end, it received a much smaller fraction of this value. 🔎 For comparison purposes, 1 million in Norwegian crowns is equivalent to about R $ 543,000, according to the Central Bank of Brazil (BC) coins converter. The Norsk Tipping Council met on Saturday with the Ministry of Culture – the body responsible for the company’s management – at an emergency meeting. Norwegian Marianne Myren Midtlyng, 42, told the green newspaper a “roller coaster” of emotions. She thought she won 980,000 Norwegian crowns after betting – and winning the groups. “We danced, wept and thought that we could finally pay our loans. I called my father and told you that I had won in the lottery. The tears were dripping,” he said. A few minutes later, however, the text in the app was updated, showing that it had only won 97 crowns – twice. “I passed a millionaire to have gained less than 200 crowns. It was like a roller coaster,” he said. Norway’s Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jafferry, told NRK to “errors like this should not happen,” especially because Norsk Tipping holds the exclusive right to offer games in the country. “We hope the board actively acts to improve internal controls,” he concluded. Copom sees the need for higher interest rates for a longer time than expected

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