On Tuesday, 302 Danes who had bet their money on a lottery game hit on some winning numbers. Their prizes ranged from 200 to 400 Danish kroner, or about $35 to $70, reports Reuters.
Emails went to the players to notify them of their winnings, but the lottery company, Danske Spil, goofed on the details -- big-time.
The emails erroneously announced the players had won amounts ranging from 1 billion to 280 billion kroner, or about $177 million to $50 billion.
The lottery company admitted the mistake was a case of human error. It sent out corrective emails the very same day.
Danske Spil representative Thomas Roersig said most people took the news gracefully, but a few were "very angry" and said that they should be entitled to the prizes announced in the earlier emails.
"We are, of course, very sorry," Roesig told Agence France-Presse. Danske Spil may yet decide to increase the prizes by a token amount, by way of apology.
Somewhat-disappointed winner Flemming Dahl said he was "a billionaire for an hour and a half," after an email told him he'd won 28 billion kroner.
"My heart leapt and I started thinking of all the things I was going to do with the money: take my family on holiday, by a new house, a new car," he said.
Roersig told Reuters that nothing like this has ever happened at Danske Spil before. "And I hope it never does again," he added.
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