In a shocking twist, thousands of hopeful Norwegians were left heartbroken after mistakenly being notified that they had won life-changing lottery sums. The excitement quickly turned to despair when state-owned gambling company Norsk Tipping revealed it was all a monumental error.

On Friday, countless players in the Eurojackpot believed they had struck gold with eye-popping winnings. However, the joyous news was short-lived, as Norsk Tipping confirmed that a colossal miscalculation had inflated the prize amounts drastically.

"Several thousand" individuals received erroneous notifications of their prizes, yet details on the exact number affected remain undisclosed. Following the blunder, CEO Tonje Sagstuen resigned just a day later.

What caused this chaos? A faulty conversion from Eurocents to Norwegian kroner resulted in prizes being inflated by a staggering factor of 100—rather than being divided as intended. Norsk Tipping, responsible for converting euro winnings from Germany, quickly updated the figures after the mistake was identified.

Sagstuen expressed deep regret for the mishap, acknowledging the anger and disappointment among many players. She revealed that she had received messages from individuals making plans based on their inflated winnings, such as buying homes or going on lavish vacations.

One woman, caught in the middle of her home renovation, shared her dismay with Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). She had believed she had won 1.2 million kroner (approximately $119,000) but was ultimately left with only a fraction of that amount.

An emergency meeting took place between Norsk Tipping’s board and the Ministry of Culture following the upheaval. Afterward, Sagstuen claimed responsibility and expressed sadness over her departure, despite her earlier confidence in the company’s future improvements.

Minister of Culture and Equality Lubna Jaffery chimed in, emphasizing that such errors should never occur, especially from an organization with exclusive rights to manage gaming services in Norway. She stressed the importance of strengthening oversight to prevent future lapses.

This incident isn’t the first time Norsk Tipping has faced scrutiny. The company acknowledged that it has uncovered "several serious errors" and that technical issues have plagued its operations in recent months. Given the recent criticism from both regulators and customers, it's clear that Norsk Tipping has a lot of rebuilding to do to restore trust.