The Norwegian lottery is apologizing this week after 47,000 people were incorrectly informed that they'd won huge amounts of money.
Norsk Tipping, Norway's lottery company, sent a text message to these 47,000 people, who had actually won much smaller sums of money. However, when Norsk Tipping converted the winnings from Euros to Kroner, instead of dividing the winnings by 100, they multiplied by 100, and sent the messages out to players showing the heavily inflated wins.
They later sent out a text message in correction:
Norsk Tipping sincerely apologizes to everyone who was notified of an incorrect prize amount.
Nobody was paid out the inflated amounts, but some winners did start spending right away when they were incorrectly informed of their large winnings.
Others, however, were a little more cautious.
From UPI:
Ole Fredrik Sveen, 53, one of the players who received the correction, said he was initially told he had won 1.2 million kroner -- about $119,010 -- but later learned his prize was only 125 kroner, or $12.40.
'You could have been really unlucky and spent a large amount of money then found out it wasn't true,' Sveen told The Guardian. 'But thankfully we kept our heads cool and realized it wasn't meant to be this time either.'
Norsk Tipping's chief executive released a statement on the issue, and then would resign from her position shortly afterwards.
From CNN:
'I am terribly sorry that we have disappointed so many, and I understand that people are angry with us,' said Sagstuen in the statement.
'I have received many messages from people who had managed to make plans for holidays, buying an apartment or renovating before they realized that the amount was wrong,' she said.
'To them I can only say: Sorry! But I understand that it is a small consolation,' added Sagstuen.
I don't know what's more sad, the fact that this lady had to quit her job, that 47,000 people had their dreams come true only to find out it was an error, or that nobody actually won the jackpot either so it's now sitting at the equivalent of $37 million.
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