On Sunday, roughly 40,000 people received the good news that they had won money from the national lottery Danske Spil. The only problem? The amount they actually won turned out to be significantly lower than what they had thought.
Due to a blunder on the part of Danske Spil, thousands of lotto players received either a text message or an email telling them that their winnings were significantly higher than they really were.
At least 20 lotto players were told they had won 170,242 kroner when in reality they had only won 2,177.
“This is obviously rubbish,” Danske Spil spokesperson Thomas Rørsig told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “This is something we very much regret.”
Some of the incorrect winnings were transfered to playersÂ’ accounts at danskespil.dk, causing the company to scramble to take back the funds.
According to Rørsig, the problem stemmed from a human error in payout levels following the draw of Saturday’s lotto numbers. Players who had four of the seven lotto numbers should have been awarded 38 kroner but were given 117 kroner – the payout for having five correct numbers. Those with five correct numbers were in turn paid the six-number amount of 2,177 while those who had six of the seven correct were erroneously awarded the jackpot sum of 170,242 kroner.
Rørsig promised that players would receive a “huge apology” from Danske Spil. But they won’t get to keep their money.
