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Kansas Lottery officials mull GTECH systems failureNews Story
Kansas Lottery officials already had more than their hands full with the selection of gaming license applicants for their four casinos so they really didn't need another problem. But, there it is: a casino data systems failure from GTECH, the Providence-RI-based firm that manages the state's lottery activities. It was defective software, pure and simple, said Ed Van Petten, lottery executive director, in describing the systems failure. GTECH, a former publicly-traded American company, was
Jul 15, 2008, 11:00 pm - Lottery News

Software error stalls validation of some winning D.C. lottery ticketsNews Story
Glitch delayed winnings for several dozen ticketholders; cause still sought A mysterious software bug in 17 lottery machines used by the D.C. Lottery and Charitable Games Control Board in Washington left several dozen winning instant ticketholders unable to immediately cash their prize tickets last week. The problem, according to Jay Young, chief operating officer of the lottery board, was tracked to the proprietary software that validates instant tickets with winning numbers, but the exac
May 9, 2008, 8:46 am - Lottery News

Tennessee Lottery computerized drawings under suspicion againNews Story
Lottery draws same numbers 3 days in a row; same thing happened last month When will the Tenn. Lottery dump the computer draws? Seven was a lucky number for Tennessee lottery players last week. A very, very, very lucky number. For three consecutive days, the winning ticket in the Cash 3 drawing was some combination of two sevens and a zero. Thursday, the winning Cash 3 number at midday was 0-7-7. Friday, the winning midday number was 7-0-7. And Saturday evening, the winning number was a
Apr 8, 2008, 8:26 pm - Lottery News

Tennessee Lottery a step closer to restoring real drawingsNews Story
A Tennessee House panel has advanced a proposal to require the state lottery to abandon computerized drawings for its games. House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower, a Bristol Republican, says he sponsored the manual drawings measure in response to a loss in consumer confidence following a computer programming error last year. The glitch prevented duplicate numbers to be drawn for nearly a month. Lottery officials estimate it would cost about $5 million a year to return to drawing numbered
Apr 2, 2008, 11:02 pm - Lottery News

Tenn. lawmakers want to force lottery to drop computer drawsNews Story
There is new discussion in the Tennessee Legislature about the possibility of the state lottery going back to using ping-pong balls to select the Cash 3 and Cash 4 winners. In 2007, a computer programming error prevented anyone who played repeated digits, such as two fives in a row, from winning. The error was discovered Aug. 20 when lottery officials contacted the system designer, Smartplay, about their concerns. The lottery is asking Smartplay, and the company that certified the syste
Mar 26, 2008, 9:08 pm - Lottery News

Tenn. Lottery audit: players spent $2 million on worthless ticketsNews Story
Lottery responded too slowly; problem fixed 10 minutes after finding it The Tennessee Lottery made a series of missteps and oversights after a software glitch began generating faulty winning numbers last year, and players bought about $2 million worth of unwinnable tickets before the error was found, according to a state audit. The sweeping audit from state Comptroller John G. Morgan reviewed the entire episode between July 28 and Aug. 20, when a programming glitch caused no duplicate digi
Mar 19, 2008, 10:48 am - Lottery News

N.J. lottery midday draws held late, not televisedNews Story
The New Jersey Lottery's computer system is back on-line, after being down for about 3½ hours this afternoon, officials said. The disruption in service, which shut down Lottery machines throughout the state and caused a delay in the drawing of the Satuday midday numbers, was blamed on high winds and heavy rains that hit the state today. Lottery machines went down about 12:30 p.m. Service was restored shortly before 4 p.m., said Dominick DeMarco, a spokesman for the Lottery Commissio
Mar 8, 2008, 5:14 pm - Lottery News

Newspaper editorial in favor of authentic lottery drawingsNews Story
Lottery balls are preferred The Leaf-Chronicle Clarksville, Tennessee Wednesday, January 16, 2008 People do not completely trust computers. They may use them for work and for pleasure, but they don't have absolute confidence in them or in those who program them. When it comes to the state lottery, confidence was shaken more because of a malfunction regarding the lottery's new random-number-generating computers. For weeks last summer, the Cash 3 and Cash 4 games would not produce re
Jan 16, 2008, 11:24 am - Lottery News

Tenn. lawmakers trying to force lottery to switch back to real drawsNews Story
Bills filed in legislature; supported by Senate and House leadership The Tennessee state legislature may force the state lottery to return to using numbered balls to select winners for the Cash 3 and Cash 4 games. Legislative leaders have expressed concern about the lottery's switch to computerized drawings, especially after a computer glitch last year. Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, and Rep. Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, the House's minority leader, have filed bills to require the lott
Jan 12, 2008, 11:18 am - Lottery News

Power outage has California lottery running on back-up generatorsNews Story
The California lottery disclosed Saturday night it was using emergency, backup electricity generators indefinitely to run online gambling and other games statewide due to a power outage. Lottery Director Joan Borucki assured gamblers that operations would remain normal but said full conventional power to all buildings may not be restored for some time. The lottery was able to conduct Saturday night's Super-LOTTO Plus draw of winning numbers, for instance, officials said. The outage,
Jan 6, 2008, 12:56 am - Lottery News