Connecticut Lottery launches new system, players unable to check tickets

May 26, 2023, 9:48 am (6 comments)

Connecticut Lottery

Players and retailers vent frustrations

By Kate Northrop

On Sunday, the Connecticut Lottery launched a new statewide retail system that was years in the making, but the change has left some players and retailers frustrated.

All 2,900 Connecticut Lottery retailers have officially been updated with a new statewide lottery system, but not everyone is finding the transition seamless.

On May 21, 2023, the Lottery did away with its older Connecticut Lottery Corporation (CLC) system, which has been in use since 2008, and implemented the newer, IGT-powered Aurora system.

Allowing IGT to operate its system, the Lottery said, leaves more room to work on games and promotions.

"With this new system in place, CLC can return to developing new games and promotions to benefit players and the State of Connecticut for many years to come," Lottery President and CEO Gregory Smith said in a press release. "As with any older technology, the time had come to make necessary upgrades to the software to improve the stability of the lottery system. This comprehensive system conversion project was successfully completed after almost two years of preparation and testing by CLC and IGT staff."

Each and every one of the Lottery's 2,900 licensed retailers across the state had new sales terminals installed, and precautions were put in place to ensure data migrated from the previous system so that all tickets purchased prior to the conversion would be valid on the new system.

"The confidence of our players and the integrity of our games is a primary focus for us," Smith continued. "Players can be assured that all unclaimed winning ticket data was migrated to the new system, and those tickets can be claimed at our retailers and claims centers across the state. As always, CLC is committed to honoring all winning tickets according to game rules."

Unfortunately, the data migration was not foolproof, rendering some players unable to scan their tickets and leading them around the state to find a retailer that could.

One player, John Carr, of Meriden, traveled to three different stores in Meriden and Wallingford, but none of them could check the tickets he bought before the system upgrade. He said he had to drive to Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill to check his tickets, only to find that none of them were winners.

"Yeah, I'm going to stop playing, as of today," Carr told WTNH.

A message on the Connecticut Lottery's website addresses the issue, which affects all non-winning draw tickets for Play3, Play4, Cash 5, Lotto, Lucky for Life, Powerball, Mega Millions, and Keno purchased before the system conversion.

"All Non-winning Draw Tickets purchased BEFORE Sunday, May 21st when scanned at the Ticket Checker may receive a message of 'Try Again Later,'" the alert reads. "Players should check these tickets on our website to see if YOUR Draw ticket purchased before May 21st matches the draw results. Players should contact CLC if receiving an inaccurate message for a winning ticket."

The problem also extended to Keno and Fast Play tickets purchased on the morning of Sat., May 22, 2023. When scanned, all tickets for these two games did not receive either a winning or non-winning response.

"This condition has been corrected so that these ticket holders can now attempt to validate their tickets, and learn if they won a prize or not," a second notice from the Lottery reads. "No tickets were erroneously recorded as winners or non-winners due to this condition. CLC apologizes for any inconvenience."

While Smith said the team of Lottery staff and retailers worked to "make this system conversion as smooth as possible for [their] players," he said they are receiving an expected number of complaints.

"We're experiencing what we consider a normal volume of, 'I'm struggling with this,' or, 'Why did this message pop up?'" Smith told WTNH. "Nothing unusual at all."

On the retailer end, store employees are finding that printing multiple tickets takes longer because the system resets between printouts, causing longer wait times for customers.

"The previous machine was kind of user-friendly," Fakhir Syed, an employee at The RoadRunners gas station convenience store on Silas Deane Highway in Rocky Hill, said in an interview with News 8. "There are a few more steps in the new machine. You have to go the extra mile."

Todd Kessel, the manager at Club Discount Liquors on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford, had similar feelings about the new system.

"So, it's actually taking longer and more difficult to punch in the numbers than it was before," Kessel related.

Smith explained that it will take time getting used to the modern equipment and recommended anyone experiencing issues to contact the Lottery.

"We take every ticket seriously because of its potential win value," Smith said. "And so, everybody should be able to rely on this thing."

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Vital to a highly-visible organization is the skill level of its personnel. Nowhere is this more necessary than in the area of preventing failures or errors during changes to the infrastructure.

https://errorfree.com/training-courses/

The mediocre teacher tells.

The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.

The great teacher inspires.

– William Arthur Ward

Wavepack

Reading this article, it seems that some scratcher players have no idea what the game rules are, to the point where they don't know how to check whether they won anything or not.    They drive around looking for machines that can check for a winner when a new system fails in that regard.

I went to the Arizona website to try to determine the rules of the different scratcher games, and I couldn't find any!  I won't play a game until I know the rules and odds, so I don't play scratchers in Arizona.

If you can't understand the rules of the game, then you are too incompetent to be playing the game.  The gambling impulses of stupids are being exploited.   Everyone knows that defrauding and scamming a person out of their money is ethically wrong.   If you exploit a person that can't even determine whether they have been scammed, that's also ethically wrong.

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Makes me recall Scotty in one of the Star Trek movies...."the more they improve the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain".

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on May 26, 2023

Makes me recall Scotty in one of the Star Trek movies...."the more they improve the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain".

Ah yes, that would be Star Trek III, when Scotty sabotaged the transwarp drive on the Excelsior so they could steal the Enterprise.

GiveFive's avatarGiveFive

This glitch pales in comparison to the glitch The CLC had regarding Connecticut Superdraw Raffle tickets four  years ago.  If you're looking for a good laugh ask any Connecticut player about it and watch their reaction.

There hasn't been another Superdraw raffle since then.... G5

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on May 26, 2023

Ah yes, that would be Star Trek III, when Scotty sabotaged the transwarp drive on the Excelsior so they could steal the Enterprise.

and Todd wins the few bonus points

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