Norwegian lottery officials have sent a text message to apologize to tens of thousands of disappointed players who were mistakenly informed that they had won large sums of money. The state-owned gambling operator, Norsk Tipping, admitted that “several thousand” people were incorrectly notified that they had won life-changing sums in euros, which were mistakenly converted to Norwegian kroner. It took three days for a text message to be sent to 47,000 individuals apologizing for the error.
Vegar Strand, Norsk Tipping’s managing director, expressed regret for the mistake and acknowledged the disappointment it caused to many people. Ole Fredrik Sveen, a 53-year-old culinary school teacher from near Oslo, was among those who received a notification informing him that he had won 1.2m kroner (£86,650) while on holiday in Greece. However, it later turned out that he had won only 125 kroner (£9).
Sveen described his initial excitement and happiness upon receiving the message, but his elation was short-lived. Within 15 minutes, he grew suspicious and began checking news sites only to discover that many others had also been informed of winning substantial sums.
Sveen expressed relief that he and his family did not spend a considerable amount of money before realizing it was not true. He stated that he has put the disappointment behind him and plans to celebrate the modest win anyway, though it would not afford him much in terms of celebration.
Norsk Tipping has faced criticism from players and authorities for the mistake. Sveen mentioned that he has lost confidence in the lottery and will think twice about participating in future.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/30/norway-lottery-error-apology
