In a shocking turn of events, thousands of hopeful lottery players in Norway were mistakenly notified about huge winnings due to a serious error by Norsk Tipping, the state-owned gambling company. On Friday, "several thousand" participants were led to believe they had won life-changing amounts in the Eurojackpot, only to find out it was a mistake. Norsk Tipping has not disclosed the exact number of individuals affected but has confirmed that the error was related to the conversion of prize amounts from Eurocents to Norwegian kroner.

CEO Tonje Sagstuen issued an apology for the incident, which resulted from a miscalculation where the prize amounts were multiplied by 100 instead of divided. This mistake meant that participants believed they had won excessively high amounts. Following the public outcry, Sagstuen resigned the day after the notifications were sent out.

In her statement, Sagstuen expressed regret over the disappointment caused, acknowledging that many people were planning major life changes based on the erroneous winnings. She recounted receiving messages from individuals excited about holidays and renovations that would have been funded by their supposed lottery earnings.

On Saturday evening, Norsk Tipping rectified the prize amounts and confirmed that no erroneous payouts occurred. However, this incident left many, such as one woman who had anticipated winning 1.2 million kroner (approximately $119,000), feeling frustrated as they only received a fraction of what they thought they had won.

The Norsk Tipping board convened for an emergency meeting with Norway's Ministry of Culture, and Sagstuen's departure highlights the severity of the situation. Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery, emphasized that such blunders should not happen, especially given Norsk Tipping's exclusive rights to administer gaming services in the country.

This is not the first time the gambling company has faced scrutiny; they have admitted to several serious technical errors in recent months, which have drawn considerable criticism from both regulators and customers alike. Norsk Tipping has pledged to enhance control measures to prevent such incidents in the future.