Eurojackpot: 47,000 Norwegian winners… by mistake

Norsk Tipping, Norway’s public lottery operator, is under in-depth investigation after a series of serious technical errors, including the sending of false winnings to 47,000 Eurojackpot players. The regulator, Lotteritilsynet, is denouncing a breach of public trust and repeated breaches of the Gaming Act. 

Norway is experiencing a real crisis of trust in the field of gambling. The Autorité nationale des jeux, Lotteritilsynet, has announced an in-depth investigation into the operations of Norsk Tipping, the public operator that holds the monopoly on the main national lotteries. 

The investigation was launched following a series of major technical incidents and repeated legal violations that have affected hundreds of thousands of players. On 27 June 2025, almost 47,000 Eurojackpot players mistakenly received notifications announcing that they had won sometimes staggering prizes. 

In reality, a bug in the currency conversion system had multiplied the amounts in euros instead of dividing them to display the amounts in Norwegian kroner. More than 30,000 players received text messages or pushes promising them sums they had never won.

Players’ trust seriously compromised

For Lotteritilsynet, this error is not just a technical incident: it is a violation of the law on gambling, and above all a direct attack on public trust. 

‘People need to be able to trust the games they play,’ said the authority in a strongly worded statement. 

The fallout was swift: Tonje Sagstuen, then CEO of Norsk Tipping, resigned on 30 June, swept away by the scandal.

But this is not an isolated case. The June error comes on top of a series of other serious and recurring failures over the past year.

A worrying history of systemic errors

In 2024, Norsk Tipping mistakenly paid out 25 million Norwegian kroner to a player in the KongKasino casino game, resulting in a fine of 4.5 million kroner. A few months later, a critical flaw allowed self-excluded players to continue accessing their accounts for four months. The result: a record penalty of 36 million crowns in March 2025.

And in April 2025, another flaw affected the additional Eurojackpot and Lotto draws, unfairly favouring certain groups of players, such as gaming cooperatives or clubs, who then benefited from an increased probability of winning. This flaw affected millions of participants and cost the operator an additional 45 million crowns.

Faced with this accumulation of malfunctions, the regulatory authority is sounding the alarm. Anya Therese Markhus, senior advisor at Lotteritilsynet, denounces a fundamental problem in Norsk Tipping’s systems and controls.

Complete overhaul of lottery games under way

Lotteritilsynet’s response is not limited to fines: a complete inspection is under way. All of Norsk Tipping’s flagship products are affected, starting with Lotto, Eurojackpot and Vikinglotto. The regulator is examining every stage of the process, from the entry deadline to the payment of winnings, including the transparency of draws and the detection of errors.

‘Transparency is crucial to maintaining public trust,’ said Markhus.

In particular, the authority plans to attend draws and audit the technical documentation provided by Norsk Tipping. No official deadline has been announced, but the investigation is intended to be exhaustive.

Norsk Tipping seeks redemption

For its part, Norsk Tipping does not dispute the facts. Vegar Strand, acting CEO, has acknowledged the seriousness of the mistakes made: 

‘We have initiated internal audits with external experts, and we see the Lotteritilsynet investigation as an important step towards restoring trust.’

The operator hopes to limit the damage, but the scale of the incidents raises serious questions about the robustness of its IT systems and internal procedures. In a sector governed by precision, the slightest failure can have major financial, legal and ethical consequences.