Imagine being told you just won enough money to quit your job, buy a new car, and disappear into the fjords…only to find out the jackpot was a massive clerical error. That’s the emotional whiplash thousands of Norwegians experienced last week when the state-run lottery company, Norsk Tipping, accidentally told players they’d hit Eurojackpot gold.Thanks to a coding error, prize amounts that were supposed to be converted from euros to kroner were instead multiplied by 100, turning modest winnings into the kind of numbers that make you start Googling stuff like “best tax havens.” For a few glorious minutes, people thought they hit it big.They did not.Thousands of dreams came crumbling down, including that of Norsk Tipping’s CEO, Tonje Sagstuen, who resigned after the debacle, just ten months into the job. “It’s incredibly sad to leave,” she said over the screams of a pitchfork-carrying mob demanding her head.“As a manager, it has been my responsibility to handle the mistakes that have occurred,” Sagstuen said in a statement. “I will miss everyone I have worked with, but I am confident that all the improvement processes we have initiated are in good hands.”As The Guardian reported, one couple in Herøy started imagining their dream renovation; others fantasized about new cars or vacations. “It was a very fun minute,” said one player, thinking she had won 1.9 million kroner, which is roughly $300,000 US.The error prompted an emergency meeting with a lot of furious government officials. Norsk Tipping admitted this isn’t their first technical stumble in the last year, promising that this time, they’ll actually fix their systems instead of hoping they win enough in the lottery to afford the system repairs they desperately need.The post A Cruel Glitch Made Thousands of Norwegians Think They Won the Lottery appeared first on VICE.