A code error led thousands of Norwegians to believe they had won the lottery
After false reports of Eurojackpot wins, many Norwegians planned to buy houses and go on vacation, but the joy only lasted until the morning.
After false reports of Eurojackpot wins, many Norwegians planned to buy houses and go on vacation, but the joy only lasted until the morning.
More than 10,000 lottery players in Norway received SMS and push notifications on Friday night about allegedly huge Eurojackpot winnings. Shocking amounts of up to hundreds of thousands of euros appeared on users' screens. However, in reality, they were supposed to receive no more than a few dozen. As TechSpot reports, it all happened because of a trivial error in the code.
The incident involved incorrect conversion of winnings from euro cents to Norwegian kroner. The Eurojackpot lottery is administered in Norway by the state-owned company Norsk Tipping, which receives the results of the draws in euro cents from Germany. During data processing, the developers were supposed to divide the amount by 100 to get euros, and then convert it to kroner. But the code, on the contrary, multiplied the amount by 100. As a result, a prize of 10 euros (1,000 euro cents) was displayed as 100,000 euros.
Although no erroneous payouts were made, thousands of players have already believed in their luck. Some have started planning purchases, renovations, and some have even booked trips.
Norsk Tipping quickly removed the incorrect data overnight, and by Saturday morning the real amounts were already displayed in users' accounts. But this did not stop the storm of indignation. The company’s CEO, Tonje Sagstuen, apologized and announced her resignation. According to her, she received hundreds of messages from people who sincerely believed in winning and felt deep disappointment.
Norway’s Ministry of Culture, which oversees Norsk Tipping, called an emergency meeting with the company’s management. The head of the department, Lubna Jaffery, said that such mistakes were unacceptable, especially given the operator’s monopoly position.
Amid the scandal, the company announced a full audit of its IT systems.
We also previously wrote about how the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appointed Gennady Novikov as the head of Ukraine’s new state agency PlayCity. He previously worked at the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries, which was replaced by PlayCity.
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