A gambling company’s currency conversion error falsely told thousands of lottery players they were millionaires, sparking widespread disappointment and an executive resignation.
At a Glance
- The error occurred during the Eurojackpot drawing on June 27, 2025.
- Approximately 47,000 players received inflated prize notifications.
- A decimal-point mistake multiplied euro-cent amounts by 100 instead of dividing.
- CEO Tonje Sagstuen resigned on June 29, 2025.
- Norway’s Ministry of Culture has opened a formal review into oversight failures.
How the Error Happened
During the June 27 Eurojackpot draw, an internal algorithm at gambling company Norsk Tipping misconverted winning amounts, inflating kroner prizes and displaying erroneous balances on its app and website, as first reported by CNN.
A follow-up investigation by The Guardian revealed that a misplaced decimal point in the currency-conversion routine caused “several thousand” players to see six- and seven-figure paydays before the glitch was caught.
Watch a report: False Fortune Fiasco.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/30/europe/norwegian-lottery-winners-error-scli-intl
To prevent future incidents, Eurojackpot’s operator has proposed integrating real-time reconciliation checks against the official prize structure for all digital notifications, ensuring displayed amounts match validated payouts.
Player Backlash and Legal Scrutiny
Disillusioned winners flooded social media with stories of canceled projects and dashed dreams—one Oslo teacher booked a luxury ski trip before realizing her actual prize was just 125 kroner. Public outrage prompted Norway’s Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery to condemn the mistake as “totally unacceptable,” calling for immediate accountability on the Ministry of Culture’s website.
Simultaneously, the Norwegian Gambling Authority opened an inquiry into whether Norsk Tipping violated national regulations by failing to follow its own error-reporting guidelines, signaling potential fines or license sanctions if systemic flaws are found.
Aftermath and Reforms
On June 29, 2025, CEO Tonje Sagstuen issued a public apology and resigned, admitting “a catastrophic lapse in oversight” per a statement covered by Reuters. Interim CEO Vegar Strand has pledged to implement automated cross-checks for all currency conversions and to commission quarterly third-party audits to restore player trust.
Industry observers note that the Eurojackpot incident has spurred other European operators—such as the U.K.’s National Lottery—to upgrade backend verification systems and tighten notification protocols, a move highlighted in a report by CBS News.
Norway’s Ministry of Culture has also proposed new licensing conditions requiring operators to submit monthly compliance certifications and to deploy AI-driven anomaly detectors, measures aimed at ensuring no “false fortune” errors ever recur.
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Author: Editor
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