Mary Ellen Reiter felt like she got one losing ticket for the price of two after discovering that eight sets of numbers on one Illinois Lottery quick-pick ticket that she bought matched eight sets of numbers on another.
"I think that they should make it right," said Reiter, 52, of Evanston, who bought the duplicate tickets Sunday at a convenience store in the northern suburb. "The way I figure, I should at least receive back $5 of free quick-picks."
About 3,000 tickets were similarly affected out of 6.3 million sold from Saturday to Tuesday, a lottery official said.
Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said a glitch occurred Saturday and Sunday while new software was being uploaded to the quick-pick machines. The lottery learned of the problem Tuesday when complaints began trickling in, he said.
An audit found that some of the machines weren't clearing numbers out of their memories from the previous ticket issued, and that the old numbers were making their way onto the next ticket, Lang said.
The problem has been resolved, but the duplicates weren't bad news in every case.
"There were, I'm told, 340 duplicate prizes that won," Lang said. "So some people may have won twice."
All of the winning tickets were for small cash prizes, he said.
Reiter, a librarian, said she has played the lottery for 20 years, but her recent experience has left her unsure about whether to continue.
The cost of the ticket "isn't the issue — it's that I received less of a chance to win," she said. "So that's how I feel cheated."
The glitch comes at a poor time for Northstar Lottery Group, which expects it will not raise as much profit for the state as promised during its first year of running the lottery.
Officials have said they expect to post year-end profits of $770 million, less than the $825 million they promised the state before they were awarded the contract to operate the lottery in 2010.
Lang said Illinois Lottery officials have asked Northstar to increase its vigilance and testing procedures to reduce the chance that software problems will occur.
The lottery is offering to reimburse affected customers with quick-pick tickets.
Lottery staff, Lang said, have been instructed to refer those with duplicate tickets to him.
Goes to show you how much these lotteries are making off us.Here in Tennessee you get nothing back.They really hired them a winner to run it here.
oh my... a low big government contractor not able to fulfill his promises... shocking!
wait... and this will include the BIG lottery winfall from the MM prize money also? they are really NOT doing even as well as IL was doing prior to privatization... shocking i tell you... shocking!
So much for the theory that a private contractor can run the lottery cheaper and more efficient than the state. If they are spending less it's because they are doing less, staying on top of things take man hours whether it's done by the state or a private contractor.
No, you're reading it wrong. Northstar may end up returning less to the state than anticipated, but they will still return more than the year prior to privatization.
Aren't lottery sales and profits increasing for most states, even the ones that aren't privatized?
Yes, but my comment was in reference to another that said that profits would be down post-privatization, which clearly isn't true.
Oh, boy...here we go. I guess that, once again, I'm the only one that sees something positive in this ordeal as always. Okay, now the last lady that ended up with duplicate tickets, in Virgina I believe it was, ended up winning TWICE ON THOSE TICKETS! I can fully, completely, wholely, accurately, and solidly guarantee that had this individual WON ON THOSE DUPLICATE TICKETS, she wouldn't be complaining at all folks.
Then again, maybe just maybe I'm dead wrong here with my analysis. May she would've told the clerk, after she WON, "Hey, I only purchased this set of numbers one time and I have several sets which are winners!!! "Here, take the rest of these tickets back as I only purched these numbers once, okay."
Can people really not see the possibilty of a blessing in true disguise here? I mean, really...come on now. It amazes me how people find all the wrong in something just because it may not have come out "exactly" like they wanted it to. When I first read this article, the lady in Virginia was the absolute first thing which came to my mind.
You can win on the same duplicate numbers as you can lose on either way. Guess I'm just to sensitive with this sort of thing...and I have a niche for findind the good in most anything. I'm cursed with that I suppose. Just my .02.
L.L.
oh I dont mind about the duplicate of tickets. you win you win. however, if my goal were totally different numbers so increase my chances (gee seems like this topic is on another thread...) it would behoove me to have different numbers, which leads to the ethical conundrum you mentioned. if that were my goal and i am planning to complain one way, then i should complain the other as well. (no really... take my extra 1M back... i only wanted DIFFERENT numbers...)
my 'testiness' is a result of the privateers and their performance (arguably) or lack of same. wait... isnt privateer another name for pirate?
Thank you for grasping my point! Gonna complain one way, then complain the other way also...and give the winning tickets back. One must maintain an open mind when playing games like this, you know, because you never know what's gonna happen. I like your being quick on the draw!
L.L.
I usually react the same way when I get duplicate tickets, because I feel that it decreases my chances of winning.
I like your positive view about playing the lottery Lucky. Great post man.
Thank you, Thrift'. I really do look for the positive in all things because there is some in every situation believe it or not. It may not be completely evident at that particular time but, it usually materializes somewhere else which will remind one of that previous matter. Hasn't failed me yet...
L.L.
She don't have to be leary about it in illinois we all need to be leary about it because this is what the lottery office does when they don't want to pay out that is why i say the lottery is set-up
This proves that the lottery is a scam why is it that when the jackpot is huge 1 or 2 people walk away as winners the lottery should set it up that once a year it is a big jackpot like the one in spain
This way their can be mulitple winners and millionaires, however they will probably have most of the winning tickets in ny or california.
Pretty simple solution here.. Don't buy quick picks.
what we have to be leary about is that people like you who think the lottery is a scam are allowed to play it. how does this prove that the lottery is a scam. a programming error means that the lottery is a scam. i suppose you don't understand that most of the tickets are purchased in ny or california thus resulting in a preponderence of winners in those states.
I can guarantee that no two pieces of bacon are the same!!!!!!!!! Release the quick pigs!!!!!!!!
I love bacon!
And I'm bettin' on #11!
Would have been real nice had ALL these duplicate tickets actually won the jackpot. Willing to bet the state of Illinois would have not honored their obligations due to this glitch.
"An audit found that some of the machines weren't clearing numbers out of their memories from the previous ticket issued, and that the old numbers were making their way onto the next ticket, Lang said."
If I'm reading this right, once a combination is sold it should not be duplicated until all the combos are sold. If that's true, QP players are not actually getting random combinations from all the possibilities, but random from the combos not sold.
11 is my favorite #
Illinois, the center of the Sleaziness Universe!
You're not reading it correctly. Apparently the terminal simply doesn't generate a new set of numbers for the next QP if the previous set hasn't been cleared from the memory. Even though it's using the same set of numbers that was just used, the numbers were picked randomly.
There were several reports of this happening during the huge MegaMillions jackpot drawings several weeks ago. Same exact thing but I don't recall which state(s) it occured in. The same dweebs that program the electronic voting machines must write the code for these lottery machines too.
i have to stop playing QP's plain and simple. some times i have a spare buck in my pocket, and just want to buy a ticket. i will have to just be patient., or bring a list of randoms with me.
Bingo! DING DING DING DING.............. did anybody else pick up on this?
Exactly, "Quick Picks" are not RANDOM if all of the combos have to be drawn for any particular combination to be drawn again.
I have seen over the years numbers that fell back to back in any state game, say 123 comes out in two days back to back. Now you might wonder how is that possible and the answer is it's very possible once the 1-2-3 is drawn it has just a good a chance to be drawn again as any other number in a RANDOM filed but less likely since it has already been drawn.
I just love those "Computer Glitches" oh they were changing the software, ha, ha, ha give me a break. They screwed up pure plain and simple. So some say since some got cheated but some made out it's OK, yeah right it's OK if you were not the one with the losing duplicate ticket.
The state of Illinois should pay for their mistake to customers with LOSING duplicate tickets, and eat the payout on those with the winning duplicate tickets as a lesson to get things right it the first place. It would also bring them customer loyalty since players would know that they will do the right thing when these errors...eerrrr Computer Glitches come up.
-Michael
I think you miss the point........... read the part where it says "Some of the Machines" it wasn't just ONE MACHINE, but "SOME".......that in and of itself sounds fishy to me.
-Michael
I would be willing to bet that had any of these duplicates been the winning numbers for jackpot the prize would have been not paid and would be told SORRY Machine GLITCH,isn't this what casino's have gotten away with and not had to pay out.I say Glitch or not you pay out and sue the software company but that is never the way it works,little guy will always lose out everytime.
They would have absolutely honored it... and then charged Northstar.
What about JD Tennessee Honey?
I'm just glad we don't have to see them on tv inspecting the playslips for hanging chads.
JD Tennessee Honey?
Yeah, I'd give it a shot! (no pun intended)
(Well, actually, the pun was intended, sorry)
MSN just 4 minutes ago Mass lottery player hit scratch ticket for 1 million and lottery officials claim 2200 tickets were misprint and not paying off. I said it would happen and boy did not take long to prove my point. Casino's have done this now lottery trying and bet they get away with it.
Did the lottery say how long they have known that there were 2200 misprinted tickets?I smell a BIG lawsuit against the Mass.lottery.
No non of the articles I have read said when lottery knew about it but they will lie anyway to avoid lawsuit.Do you really think any Government agency will admit to being wrong LOL or making money off us regular people by misleading us ...AS most commented state kept tickets in stores hoping to make more money until the got caught with this, now come out with we tried to get them off the shelves LOL yeah right. Not the first time Mass has been caught doing wrong thing in Lottery cases yet never end up paying or anyone losing jobs or going to Jail.Funny how that works.
Todd already posted the article on LP
Maximumfun,look at the timestamps on my post and Todds story.Todd hadn't posted the story yet when I posted my question.
oh my... ANYONE can have clever arguments like... facts and reality... if you are going to base your arguments on that... well then...
and on a non fluffy-headed response level: oops. I'm sorry, I missed that. I will attempt to pay more attention next time.
Not a problem.Everyone makes mistakes now & again.
Why would Illinois not pay the jackpot for a duplicate ticket? The lotteries' TOTAL payout for the jackpot prize is the same whether one ticket wins it or one hundred do. Assuming only one player has two or more lines of the same numbers on the ticket, he or she would get the same prize amount as he or she would if only one line had the jackpot winning combo. I could see it getting ugly though if a duplicate ticket won the match 5+0 prize, especially if it was a Megaplier ticket.
one of those glitched tickets could have won the jackpot but then i doubt it