Transition to new computer system means players should buy in advance

By Kate Northrop

Pennsylvania lottery players will temporarily be unable to buy and cash tickets while the Pennsylvania Lottery transitions to a new computer system on Tuesday.

Pennsylvania Lottery officials announced that a system upgrade will prevent players from buying certain games and cashing winning tickets.

The transition, which is scheduled to begin after midnight on Mon., March 18, is expected to take less than one day and is estimated to wrap up sometime late into the day on Tues., March 19. The Lottery recommends players to check their website and social media channels to see when the work is complete.

"The Pennsylvania Lottery is working to upgrade vending equipment, improve our technology, and debut many new features that will improve the playing experience for our players — and this upgrade is one part of that effort," Secretary of Revenue Pat Browne said. Browne heads the Pennsylvania Lottery, a bureau within the Department of Revenue.

Play tickets or draw game tickets at in-store retailers or online. This includes Powerball, Mega Millions, Treasure Hunt, Cash 5 with Quick Cash, Match 6 Lotto, Cash4Life, and the Pick family of games.

The Lottery is strongly encouraging players to purchase their tickets in advance for these drawings, either by purchasing advance draws for draw games or with the subscription option that the Lottery offers for online players.

Additionally, players cannot cash winning tickets during the system upgrade. The Lottery recommends players to sign the back of their winning tickets and hold onto them until they can be claimed once the upgrade is complete.

"We have a thorough plan in place to make sure the transition to the new computer system has as little impact as possible for our players," Browne continued. "This phase of our project is mainly taking place behind the scenes, but it's a big move for us to improve our business, expand sales, and continue our mission of responsibly generating funding for programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians."

During the outage, drawings will still occur as scheduled. However, players will not be able to buy Fast

This computer system upgrade is part of a modernization project that originally began with the rollout of new vending equipment at the Lottery's 10,000+ retailers across the state. Now, the digital side of the project focuses on a move to new data centers, updated test environments, communications networks, and back-office systems. These changes are "occurring behind the scenes to lay the foundation for enhancements yet to come," the Lottery said in a statement.

"All of these efforts will help the Lottery operate more efficiently, improve the playing experience for our players, and help us generate funding for the critical programs that our older residents rely upon," Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko said. "Our team is very passionate about responsibly providing entertainment options for our players. We are hard at work to make sure that we keep this momentum going and build on our success."

The Lottery advised that prize claims are taking a few weeks longer to process due to the transition, but processing times should be back to normal in April.

There may also be instances, such as with daily drawings, when results will not be posted until the system upgrade is complete, the Lottery said in a press release.

Scratch-offs will still be available for purchase with cash at in-store retailers, both at the counter and at vending machines. eInstant online games are also unaffected. Vouchers cannot be produced or used during this time period.