Norway's state-owned gambling company Norsk Tipping mistakenly told "several thousand people" they had won "excessively high" Eurojackpot prizes on Friday, due to "an error in the code that converts eurocents to Norwegian kroner in the gaming system."
In a press release, Norsk Tipping announced that it had removed the incorrect prize amounts from its website and app on Friday evening, adding that the correct prize overview was uploaded to its platforms on Saturday evening.
According to Norsk Tipping, no incorrect payouts were made.
After amassing sharp criticism from Norway's gambling regulator, as well as from customers who were left disappointed, the company responded by acknowledging that the criticism it faced was "justified."
On Saturday, the company's CEO Tonje Sagstuen issued an apology and handed in her resignation.
"I've received many messages from people who had managed to make plans for holidays, buying an apartment or redecorating before they realised that the amount was wrong. To them I can only say: I'm sorry! But I understand that it's little consolation," said Sagstuen, who became the company's CEO in September 2023, having worked there since 2014.
Lottery CEO steps down
Sagstuen handed in her resignation after an emergency meeting between Norsk Tipping's board and Norway's Ministry of Culture on Saturday morning.
Sylvia Brustad, chair of Norsk Tipping's board, announced that "the Board and Tonje (Sagstuen) have concluded that the most important thing now is to calm down the company and the important improvement processes that have been initiated."
"That's why Tonje herself has chosen to step down from her role as CEO after many months of intense work pressure. It is a decision that a unanimous board supports her in," added Brustad.
In a press release, Norsk Tipping stated that the company has faced a range of technical issues over the past year, for which "the root cause goes way back in time."
While it stated that the prize amounts error was not a technical one, it announced that an investigation would be launched to determine how the incident occurred and in order "to prevent something similar from happening again."
