Lottery finishes investigation, will honor all claims filed for game's winning tickets

By Kate Northrop

Friday the Hoosier Lottery announced that it will pay out all winning tickets affected by a validation error for its newest Fast Play game.

On the morning of the launch of Indiana's newest Fast Play game, $20 Golden Jackpot, players experienced a technical issue that prevented their supposedly winning tickets from being validated.

Players phoned in and contacted the Lottery directly on social media within hours of the game's launch on Sunday. By noontime, sales for the game were suspended. In total, 632 tickets were sold, and every ticket was affected by the issue. Players were instructed to hang on to their tickets.

"Throughout this investigation, it has been our main goal to identify the specific issue and provide a reasonable remedy for our loyal players," Hoosier Lottery Executive Director Sarah M. Taylor said in a press release. "We believe strongly in providing fun and entertaining games for our players. In this circumstance, the execution of the game did not rise to the high expectations we set for the Hoosier Lottery."

Now that the investigation is complete, the Lottery released a statement alerting affected players that they will be able to complete one of two processes to claim their winnings beginning Mon., Mar. 28.

Players who still have $20 Golden Jackpot tickets in their possession should fill out a claim form and present it and the ticket at a Lottery Prize Payment Center with a copy of valid Government Issued Photo ID. Winners can also opt for the mail-in option by sending the materials to their prize payment center in Indianapolis.

Should players make the claim in-person, they should not expect to leave with a check for their winnings. Instead, the Lottery said, there will be a process to review tickets, and if the ticket and claim form are valid, the player will be mailed a check in the coming days.

Players who do not have their ticket can fill out an affidavit form found on the Lottery's website and mail it and a copy of valid Government Issued Photo ID to the prize payment center in Indianapolis.

The review process for those without a physical ticket will take much longer than for those who did hang onto their tickets.

"[The] affidavit will be processed 180 days after the March 20th date the ticket was issued — September 16, 2022," the Lottery said in a statement. "If a player's claim is determined to be valid, a check will be mailed shortly after [the] affidavit's processing."

The Hoosier Lottery also said that it is working with the gaming system vendor to prevent the issue from happening again in the future.