Software error stalls validation of some winning D.C. lottery tickets
Glitch delayed winnings for several dozen ticketholders; cause still sought
A mysterious software bug in 17 lottery machines used by the D.C. Lottery and Charitable Games Control Board in Washington left several dozen winning instant ticketholders unable to immediately cash their prize tickets last week.
The problem, according to Jay Young, chief operating officer of the lottery board, was tracked to the proprietary software that validates instant tickets with winning numbers, but the exac ...
May 9, 2008, 8:46 am - - Lottery News forum
Tennessee Lottery computerized drawings under suspicion again
Lottery draws same numbers 3 days in a row; same thing happened last month
When will the Tenn. Lottery dump the computer draws?
Seven was a lucky number for Tennessee lottery players last week. A very, very, very lucky number.
For three consecutive days, the winning ticket in the Cash 3 drawing was some combination of two sevens and a zero. Thursday, the winning Cash 3 number at midday was 0-7-7. Friday, the winning midday number was 7-0-7. And Saturday evening, the winning number was a ...
Apr 8, 2008, 8:26 pm - - Lottery News forum
Tennessee Lottery a step closer to restoring real drawings
A Tennessee House panel has advanced a proposal to require the state lottery to abandon computerized drawings for its games.
House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower, a Bristol Republican, says he sponsored the manual drawings measure in response to a loss in consumer confidence following a computer programming error last year.
The glitch prevented duplicate numbers to be drawn for nearly a month.
Lottery officials estimate it would cost about $5 million a year to return to drawing numbered ...
Apr 2, 2008, 11:02 pm - - Lottery News forum
Tenn. lawmakers want to force lottery to drop computer draws
There is new discussion in the Tennessee Legislature about the possibility of the state lottery going back to using ping-pong balls to select the Cash 3 and Cash 4 winners.
In 2007, a computer programming error prevented anyone who played repeated digits, such as two fives in a row, from winning.
The error was discovered Aug. 20 when lottery officials contacted the system designer, Smartplay, about their concerns.
The lottery is asking Smartplay, and the company that certified the syste ...
Mar 26, 2008, 9:08 pm - - Lottery News forum
Tenn. Lottery audit: players spent $2 million on worthless tickets
Lottery responded too slowly; problem fixed 10 minutes after finding it
The Tennessee Lottery made a series of missteps and oversights after a software glitch began generating faulty winning numbers last year, and players bought about $2 million worth of unwinnable tickets before the error was found, according to a state audit.
The sweeping audit from state Comptroller John G. Morgan reviewed the entire episode between July 28 and Aug. 20, when a programming glitch caused no duplicate digi ...
Mar 19, 2008, 10:48 am - - Lottery News forum
N.J. lottery midday draws held late, not televised
The New Jersey Lottery's computer system is back on-line, after being down for about 3½ hours this afternoon, officials said.
The disruption in service, which shut down Lottery machines throughout the state and caused a delay in the drawing of the Satuday midday numbers, was blamed on high winds and heavy rains that hit the state today.
Lottery machines went down about 12:30 p.m. Service was restored shortly before 4 p.m., said Dominick DeMarco, a spokesman for the Lottery Commissio ...
Mar 8, 2008, 5:14 pm - - Lottery News forum
Lottery Post for iPhone earns Apple 'Staff Pick'
Lottery Post, the world's largest community of lottery players, today announced that the new iPhone Edition of its popular Web site was awarded a Staff Pick by Apple.
The iPhone, built by Apple, is a combination cell phone and handheld computer. It went on sale June, 2007, and has sold over 5 millions units. Apple claimed Thursday that the iPhone currently makes up 28% of the smartphone market.
The iPhone is an ideal platform for lottery results and other lottery-related content, said Tod ...
Mar 7, 2008, 12:59 pm - - Lottery News forum
Newspaper editorial in favor of authentic lottery drawings
Lottery balls are preferred
The Leaf-Chronicle
Clarksville, Tennessee
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
People do not completely trust computers. They may use them for work and for pleasure, but they don't have absolute confidence in them or in those who program them.
When it comes to the state lottery, confidence was shaken more because of a malfunction regarding the lottery's new random-number-generating computers. For weeks last summer, the Cash 3 and Cash 4 games would not produce re ...
Jan 16, 2008, 11:24 am - - Lottery News forum
Tenn. lawmakers trying to force lottery to switch back to real draws
Bills filed in legislature; supported by Senate and House leadership
The Tennessee state legislature may force the state lottery to return to using numbered balls to select winners for the Cash 3 and Cash 4 games.
Legislative leaders have expressed concern about the lottery's switch to computerized drawings, especially after a computer glitch last year.
Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, and Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, the House's minority leader, have filed bills to require the lott ...
Jan 12, 2008, 11:18 am - - Lottery News forum
Contractors steal $70,000 in lottery prize money
Computer system breached; technicians printed bogus tickets, investigators allege
D.C. officials were told last year that lax enforcement of security procedures made it possible for a handful of contract employees to steal tens of thousands of dollars in lottery tickets and prize money, according to records released this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the D.C. Lottery and Charitable Games Control Board.
An investigation conducted by Battelle Memorial I ...
Jan 9, 2008, 3:53 pm - - Lottery News forum
