- A computer glitch on an instant win game created lots of false winners Christmas Day
- The glitch lasted two hours before the game was suspended
- The lottery board will decide how to handle the issue in January and has set aside $19.6 million for potential winners
A technical glitch in South Carolina’s lottery system on Christmas Day could mean that $19.6 million in lottery winnings are up for grabs.
The glitch lasted two hours and produced more winning tickets than it should have, leading to the lottery game’s suspension.
‘From 5:51 p.m. to 7:53 p.m., the same play symbol was repeated in all nine available play areas on tickets which would result in a top prize of $500,’ the South Carolina Education Lottery Board of Commissioners said in a statement.
‘No more than five identical play symbols should appear for a single play,’ the lottery said Wednesday. ‘As soon as the issue was identified, the Add-A-Play game was suspended immediately to conduct a thorough investigation.’
The $1 instant tickets created many false winners on Christmas Day due to a computer error
The game in question, Holiday Cash Add-a-Play, a $1 terminal generated game.
Although players whose tickets came up as winners due to the error haven’t won any money yet, the lottery board has set aside $19.6 million to make up for the glitch while they decide how to handle the issue.
The lottery board has set aside $19.6 million for potential winners in the game, and will discuss the matter further in January
Some ‘winners’ were disappointed by the results, according to a report by WYFF.
‘We didn’t do anything wrong. The stores didn’t do anything wrong. It’s (the SCEL’s) fault. I think they should either honor the tickets or give us our money back,’ South Carolina resident Nicole Coggins said.
The lottery board said that they’d meet in January to discuss the matter further, advising potential winners to hold on to their tickets.