On 27/6, the Eurojackpot lottery in Norway, run by state-owned Norsk Tipping, announced unusually high winnings on its website and mobile app.

The company, which receives the prize information from Germany in euros, applied the wrong formula when converting the amounts to Norwegian kroner.

"During the conversion, an algorithm error multiplied the total prize value by 100 instead of dividing it by 100," the company explained after removing the incorrect amounts.

Eurojackpot lottery tickets on display in Cologne, Germany, November 2024. Photo: AFP

Eurojackpot lottery tickets on display in Cologne, Germany, November 2024. Photo: AFP

Norsk Tipping confirmed that thousands of customers received erroneous notifications, but no money had been disbursed based on the miscalculated winnings. The following day, the lottery operator held an emergency meeting with the Ministry of Culture to address the incident following criticism from customers and regulators.

Many Eurojackpot players told Norwegian media they celebrated, made purchases, and planned trips before realizing their winnings were significantly less than they thought.

On 29/6, Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen resigned after nearly two years in the role. She stated the company had "initiated process improvements" to prevent similar errors.

This is not Norsk Tipping's first lottery mishap. The company acknowledged "several technical issues" in the past year and pledged a thorough investigation.

Launched in 2012, Eurojackpot is a transnational European lottery with 19 participating countries. Players choose 5 numbers from 1–50 and 2 additional numbers from 1–12. The winning numbers are drawn weekly in Finland, with prize values calculated in Germany and Denmark. The minimum jackpot is 10 million euros and can reach up to 120 million euros.

Thanh Danh (Guardian, CBS)