Lottery currently "exploring available options for recovery"

By Kate Northrop

The Hoosier Lottery has paid out $1,785,000 so far after a vendor error mistakenly produced 632 winning tickets in an in-state Fast Play drawing.

Last month, the Hoosier Lottery announced that it would pay out all winning tickets affected by a validation error for its newest Fast Play game, $20 Golden Jackpot.

On the morning of the game's first drawing, players experienced a technical issue that prevented their supposedly winning tickets from being validated.

Once players phoned in to report the discrepancy, the Lottery launched an investigation and decided to pay out all 632 winning tickets.

So far, the Lottery has completed claims for 392 tickets affected by the error and has handed out at least $1,785,000 in prize money. There are reportedly 28 submissions that are still pending.

The top prize in the Golden Jackpot game is $5,000. If claims for all 632 winning tickets in the drawing were submitted to the Lottery and approved, the error would have cost the Lottery a grand total of $3.16 million.

Players who believed they held a winning ticket in the draw were asked to hang on to their tickets and follow the Lottery's instructions for submitting a claim. Winners reported being able to pick up a check within about two weeks after completing a security call.

Currently, the Lottery says it's "exploring available options for recovery."