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Virtually everyone who plays the lottery does so clinging to the hope they’ll be one of the lucky people who end up winning a prize that can have a significant impact on their quality of life. Thousands of people in Norway were recently led to believe they managed to do exactly that only to find out they were the victim of a brutal error.
There are more than 100 countries with a lottery system that gives people the chance to take home some serious dough if they’re able to defy the odds that are firmly stacked against each individual, but the “Someone’s Gotta Win” mentality serves as a major motivator when it comes to attracting players.
It’s not super rare to double or triple your initial investment on a scratch-off ticket, but the chances of getting a sizeable return on more traditional games like Powerball or Mega Millions are significantly lower due to how large the jackpots tend to be.
That’s also the case with Eurojackpot, which currently gives people in close to 20 countries in (you guessed it) Europe the opportunity to get a share of a prize pool that starts at €10,000,000 (~$11.7 million) and can exceed more than €120,000,000 (~$141 million).
Norway is one of the countries under the Eurojackpot umbrella, and the game is overseen within its borders by a state-operated company known as Norsk Tipping.
According to The Guardian, Tonje Sagstuen had served as the CEO of Norsk Tipping since 2023 but stepped down last week in the wake of a mistake that led to thousands of people falling victim to a coding error that multiplied their winnings by 100 instead of dividing them by the same number.
The outlet says one player was told she had netted 1.9 million kroner (approximately $300,000) and a couple was informed they won 1.2 million kroner (close to $120,000) that they planned to use to renovate their home before the company sent out a correction that informed the many “winners” who received similar messages they were actually supposed to receive .0001% of the stated amount.
Sagstuen—who was getting paid over $370,000 a year to serve as the CEO—opted to resign and issued an apology that read:
“I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us.
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.
To them I can only say: Sorry! But I understand that it is a small consolation.”
Ouch.
Content shared from brobible.com.