Norsk Tipping CEO Tonje Sagstuen has resigned from her post after a major error in a Eurojackpot draw saw thousands of customers notified of winning large jackpots when they hadn’t.
The draw, which took place on 27 June, was impacted by a technical failure in the code which converts euro cents into Norwegian kroner.
It meant several thousand players received incorrect notices from the government-owned operator stating they had won significant sums of money.
Hamar-based Norsk Tipping, which is the monopoly lottery, instant-win games and sports betting operator in the country, said no incorrect amounts were paid out and that the correct prize statements had been issued by early Saturday morning.
The failure, which generated headline news across Europe, led to Norsk Tipping holding talks with the country’s culture minister, Lubna Jaffery, to thrash out a plan.
In turn, Sagstuen agreed with the Norsk Tipping board to step down as CEO, having held the post since November 2023.
In the announcement confirming her departure, Norsk Tipping also made reference to several other issues that had plagued the operator in recent months.
These include fines for self-exclusion errors in the operator’s iOS app and other faulty lottery draws.
It was also noted that despite stepping down, Sagstuen had been at the “forefront of a number of processes to raise the quality of the work” at Norsk Tipping.
External companies have now been drafted in to investigate technical bugs throughout the operator’s systems.
Early on Saturday, Sagstuen said the Norwegian public’s trust in Norsk Tipping had been “shattered”, as she explained in a later statement her decision to step down.
She said: “As a leader, it has been my responsibility to deal with the errors that have arisen, and it has been very gratifying to see how Norsk Tipping as a whole has responded to the challenges and worked day and night to solve them.
“That’s why it’s also incredibly sad to leave Norsk Tipping and all the good people who work in Hamar.
“I will miss all the people I have worked with, but I am confident that all the improvement processes we have initiated are in good hands with the team we have in place.”
Sylvia Brustad, Norsk Tipping chair, added: “The board and Tonje have come to the conclusion that the most important thing now is to calm down the company and the important improvement processes that have been initiated.
“Therefore, Tonje herself has chosen to step down from the role of CEO after many months with a very high workload. It is a decision that a unanimous board supports her in.”
In May, the Norwegian Gambling Authority opened an investigation into Norsk Tipping over alleged underage gambling.
And earlier, in February, the operator was fined NOK36m by the regulator over a “reprehensible” player protection violation.
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The post Norsk Tipping CEO resigns following major lottery draw error first appeared on EGR Intel.
Tonje Sagstuen steps down after thousands of players mistakenly told they had won significant sums in Friday night’s Eurojackpot draw due to a technical glitch
The post Norsk Tipping CEO resigns following major lottery draw error first appeared on EGR Intel.