News writer
A lottery blunder that left thousands of Norwegians thinking they were instant millionaires has now sparked something even bigger — a full-scale investigation. After what regulators are calling a breach of trust and the Gambling Act, Norway's national lottery operator is under the microscope, and officials are digging deep into how one mistake led to a nationwide uproar.
The Gambling Act was violated
After around 30,000 EuroJackpot players were notified that they had won the lottery, the Norwegian Lottery Authority determined that Norsk Tipping had broken the law.
Anya Theres Markhus, Norwegian Gambling Authority Senior Advisor, stated:
Norsk Tipping has violated the Gambling Act. People should be able to trust their games. The fact that several thousand players received a notice of excessive winnings is clearly harmful to that trust.
The original error
The error took place at the end of June 2025, as Lottery USA previously reported. When Norsk Tipping receives the prize amounts that EuroJackpot players have won, it arrives in euros. From there, they convert the winnings to Norwegian kroner.
To do this, their conversion code should have divided the winning amounts by 100. Instead, the code multiplied the winnings by 100.
Putting this into perspective, if you won a €10 prize, you were notified that you won €1,000 instead. Or if you won a €100 prize, you were notified that you won €10,000. People were winning smaller amounts, but thinking they had won life-changing jackpots.
Norsk Tipping noticed the error quickly, and the issue was resolved, but not before people started making plans with their supposed winnings. Because of that backlash, the company's CEO, Tonje Sagstuen, resigned from their position after 11 years with the company.
Full investigation launched
After determining the company violated the Gambling Act, and in response to the immediate public outcry, the Gambling Authority has announced they are launching a full investigation into Norsk Tipping and its operations. This investigation will include a review of the Lotto, EuroJackpot, and Vikinglotto games.
The investigation will take a look at the entire process of each draw game, starting from the submission deadline for players to the payment of winnings.
According to the Gambling Authority, this process will take them a long time to complete. They said these are some of the biggest lottery games in the country and include millions of players every year.
Not their first scandal
Norsk Tipping is not new to scandals, as they have dealt with multiple scandals over the past few months. Norsk Tipping was recently reprimanded by the Norwegian Lottery Authority for drawing too many winners in lottery draws. Officials said this was taking place for “years,” including when they accidentally awarded one player KR25m ($2.48m).
In addition, Norsk Tipping was determined to be allowing children to play at different casino sites. The company is promising improvements, and they are hoping new leadership can lead them in the right direction.
Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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