What seemed like a wonderful Christmas present for some South Carolina residents turned out to be a lump of coal. The Grinch turned out to be a programming error on a $1 lottery game that lasted for more than two hours on Christmas Day and resulted in an overabundance of winning tickets, WYFF reported.
The mistake prompted the suspension and investigation of the Holiday Add-A-Play game, South Carolina Education Lottery officials said Wednesday.
The SCEL’s computer system vendor, Intralot, experienced a programming error on Christmas Day that affected the terminal-generated instant game, officials said.
From 5:51 p.m. to 7:53 p.m., the same play symbol was repeated in all nine available play areas on tickets, which would result in a top prize of $500.
No more than five identical play symbols should appear for a single play, WYFF reported. As soon as the issue was identified, the Add-A-Play game was suspended immediately to conduct a thorough investigation.
Instant (scratch-off) tickets and all other lottery games were not affected by this error, officials said.
They went on to say that Holiday Cash Add-A-Play game sales and validations will remain suspended until further notice. All players who purchased a Holiday Cash Add-A-Play ticket on Christmas Day during the time period affected are advised to hold on to their ticket(s) until the review is completed, WYFF reported.
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