According to New Jersey Lottery spokesperson Jaimee Gilmartin, the problem originated with Verizon's branch office in Hamilton Square, N.J., which manages data transmissions for lottery machines in retail stores throughout southern New Jersey. The lottery "green machines", as they are called, depend on these transmissions.

Gilmartin said the "data communications failure" began at 12:15 p.m., affecting 358 retailers in Camden, Salem, Gloucester and Cumberland counties."

Some 6,000 lottery retailers operate in New Jersey state.

The problems affected a number of lottery machines in local stores. Employees at Randy's General Store said that their lottery machine had stopped working soon after 12 p.m.

Other local lottery retailers appeared to be unaffected. Hummel's Liquor Store and Rite Aid both reported that their machines were working normally.

According to Gilmartin, Verizon began addressing the problem immediately, and by 3:30 p.m. had resolved the problems in all but 117 retailers.