Norwegian Lotto Mistakenly Told Thousands They Were Filthy Rich After Math Error (theregister.com)
(Monday June 30, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the life-comes-at-you-fast dept.)
- Reference: 0178238246
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/30/2131215/norwegian-lotto-mistakenly-told-thousands-they-were-filthy-rich-after-math-error
- Source link: https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/30/norwegian_lotto_error/
Thousands of Norwegians briefly believed they had won massive Eurojackpot prizes after a manual coding error by Norsk Tipping [1]mistakenly multiplied winnings by 100 instead of dividing . The Register reports:
> Eurojackpot, a pan-European lottery launched in 2012, holds two draws per week, and its jackpots start at about $12 million with a rollover cap of $141 million. Norsk Tipping, Norway's Eurojackpot administrator, [2]admitted on Friday that a "manual error" it its conversion process from Eurocents to Norwegian kroner multiplied amounts by 100 instead of dividing them. As a result, " [3]thousands " of players were briefly shown jackpots far higher than their actual winnings before the mistake was caught, but no incorrect payouts were made.
>
> Norsk Tipping didn't disclose how large the false jackpots were, but math suggests the improper amounts were 10,000x times higher. Regardless, it seems like a lot of people thought they were big winners, based on what the company's now-former CEO, Tonje Sagstuen, said on Saturday. "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 [4]said in a statement. "To them I can only say: Sorry!" The incorrect prize amounts were visible on the Norsk Tipping website only briefly on Friday, but the CEO still [5]resigned over the weekend following the incident.
>
> While one of the Norsk Tipping press releases regarding the incident described it as "not a technical error," it still appears someone fat-fingered a bit of data entry. The company said it will nonetheless be investigating how such a mistake could have happened "to prevent something similar from happening again."
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/30/norwegian_lotto_error/
[2] https://www.norsk-tipping.no/nyheter/visningsfeil-i-eurojackpot
[3] https://www.norsk-tipping.no/nyheter/norsk-tipping-sender-beklagelse-til-berorte-kunder-etter-eurojackpot-feilen
[4] https://presse.norsk-tipping.no/pressreleases/norsk-tipping-vi-er-lei-oss-over-aa-ha-skuffet-saa-mange-3394478
[5] https://presse.norsk-tipping.no/pressreleases/tonje-sagstuen-fratrer-som-administrerende-direktoer-i-norsk-tipping-3394490
> Eurojackpot, a pan-European lottery launched in 2012, holds two draws per week, and its jackpots start at about $12 million with a rollover cap of $141 million. Norsk Tipping, Norway's Eurojackpot administrator, [2]admitted on Friday that a "manual error" it its conversion process from Eurocents to Norwegian kroner multiplied amounts by 100 instead of dividing them. As a result, " [3]thousands " of players were briefly shown jackpots far higher than their actual winnings before the mistake was caught, but no incorrect payouts were made.
>
> Norsk Tipping didn't disclose how large the false jackpots were, but math suggests the improper amounts were 10,000x times higher. Regardless, it seems like a lot of people thought they were big winners, based on what the company's now-former CEO, Tonje Sagstuen, said on Saturday. "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 [4]said in a statement. "To them I can only say: Sorry!" The incorrect prize amounts were visible on the Norsk Tipping website only briefly on Friday, but the CEO still [5]resigned over the weekend following the incident.
>
> While one of the Norsk Tipping press releases regarding the incident described it as "not a technical error," it still appears someone fat-fingered a bit of data entry. The company said it will nonetheless be investigating how such a mistake could have happened "to prevent something similar from happening again."
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/30/norwegian_lotto_error/
[2] https://www.norsk-tipping.no/nyheter/visningsfeil-i-eurojackpot
[3] https://www.norsk-tipping.no/nyheter/norsk-tipping-sender-beklagelse-til-berorte-kunder-etter-eurojackpot-feilen
[4] https://presse.norsk-tipping.no/pressreleases/norsk-tipping-vi-er-lei-oss-over-aa-ha-skuffet-saa-mange-3394478
[5] https://presse.norsk-tipping.no/pressreleases/tonje-sagstuen-fratrer-som-administrerende-direktoer-i-norsk-tipping-3394490
Salt in the wound (Score:2)
by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )
I still think they shouldn't have notified people by writing "we regret to inform you that you are a BIG LOSER".
Re: (Score:2)
by martin-boundary ( 547041 )
They had to!
Any email that contains the phrase "we regret to inform you that you are not a BIG WINNER" goes straight to the spam folder.
Filthy Rich vs Just Filthy (Score:2)
by dohzer ( 867770 )
If I had to put my money on it, I'd bet they were filthy about it.
Not good at math (Score:4, Informative)
Lotteries are for people who are not very good at math and probabilities.
Apparently, the people operating the lotteries are not very good at math either.
Re: (Score:2)
Millions of people go to Vegas every year... so I think there are a lot of folks in that "not very good at math" grouping.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, there are people who are good at math that go to Vegas. But they're not the ones who KNOW in their heart that they are going to win. Those people, are NOT good at math.
Re: (Score:1)
Lotteries are a form of entertainment.
They're no more for people bad at math than any other form of entertainment.
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately, they area lso a significant source of funding that schools and other state projects rely on, effectively a form of tax.
I will grant you that it is more fun to buy a ticket than directly write a check to the tax authorities voluntarily. It's also less efficient to administer.
Re: (Score:2)
also it disproportionately takes resources from the vulnerable, and any community group fundraising like this that is covering a gap is really making up for the lack of funding provided by the people who are benefiting from their work.
Nobody should need this kind of boon. This kind of argument in favor of gambling shouldn't be necessary.
Re: (Score:1)
How about we not treat adults like children, unable to make their own decisions. How about that?
Re: (Score:2)
They are a form of entertainment for some people. But way too many people see it as their dream ticket to riches, even spending grocery money on lottery tickets. Think about it...where are lottery ticket counters most concentrated? In poor neighborhoods, of course. These are people who cannot afford this kind of entertainment.
Re: (Score:1)
Plenty of people can't afford $1000 concert tickets for Taylor Swift too, and yet we don't clutch our pearls about it.
Freedom has consequences. People making poor choices is one of them.
You don't understand lottery (Score:2)
That's naive. Many if not most people know quite well how dim their chances are to win. In Europe, they're told before they can play what the probability for a class 1 win is, like 1:160,000,000 for the Eurojackpot lottery. But they also know that most lotteries spend a substantial amount of their earnings for good causes, so the money is not just lost (in Eurojackpot, I think it depends on which country someone's in, but it's things like sports, culture, humanitarian projects). And most of all, beside the
Re: You don't understand lottery (Score:2)
(Actually it's 1:140,000,000, but I guess the difference, in this case, is, despite significant, negligible ;-)