Irish National Lottery glitch results in missed winners, while across the pond, US lotto winners celebrate! (Image by megafilm77541192 on Vecteezy Pixabay)
It’s time for mix of gossip thanks to some big winners in the US, and the story of the Irish lottery system that failed to spot winners.
The Irish National Lottery has come under fire from regulators after findings showed that the operator’s website’s ‘Check My Numbers’ feature flagged 394 winning tickets during September and October of 2022 as losing tickets.
As a result, the National Lottery Regulator of Ireland has fined the lottery organisation to the tune of €23,000 and issued a warning.
To the company’s credit Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) did notify the regulator of the glitch themselves. Had they failed to do so and been caught out later, the fine could have been substantially more significant. Kudos to PLI for its honesty on the matter.
Players Not Flagged As Winners
The system flagged close to 400 winning tickets as losers, leading to a total of €2,299 worth of unclaimed prizes.
The lottery provider added that there had been no customer complaints, had not benefited from the error, and had paid a sum equivalent to the wrongly flagged winning tickets into the prize fund. The totals in question were a winning ticket worth €250, while on the lower range of the scale, winning tickets worth between €2.00 and €24.00 were also missed.
PLI has now reassured the regulator the issue has been rectified. Yet, this has also resulted in the removal of the useful ‘Check my Number’ features. I say useful, according to the PLI it had low usage, and so only a small number of lottery participants that use this feature will be affected.
Statement by PLI: “PLI has paid into the prize fund a sum equivalent to all potentially impacted expired unclaimed prizes. PLI has introduced a permanent solution and can confirm that the issue has not recurred” source: Raidió Teilifís Éireann – operator breached licence due to technical hitch.
A Lotto Player in the US See $1,000 Win Turn into a $300,000 Windfall
Although this is news from across the pond, and we generally don’t cover the US, I just couldn’t resist briefly covering this news story extravaganza. A lady who had played the Top Secret Cashword Instant Game, which is a scratch card that is part of the Michigan Lottery, thought she’s landed a $1,000 win.
Kaylynn Totten was happy enough that she’d bagged the $1,000 win, but when she checked the ticket purchased for $5.00 on the Michigan Lottery app, can you imagine her disbelief as they told her she had won $300,000? I wish I were there just to see her face.
I know if it were me, I’d probably be thinking this is some kind of glitch in the system, and my $1,000 still stands. Judging by the news story that published Ms. Totten’s win, she was in disbelief and went to the store to get them to confirm the win was indeed $300,000.
She said in the news report: “”I scanned it on the Michigan Lottery app to double check and was in disbelief when the amount of $300,000 came up on the screen! I took the ticket back into the store and had them scan it to make sure it was real. I am still waiting for it to hit me that I won $300,000!”. Congrats Kaylynn from the Casinoplusbonus team! source: CBC News – Michigan woman wins $300,000.
Las Vegas Visitor Wins $10,000 Jackpot From a $2.50 Bet
How about taking a trip to Vegas and actually leaving the city a winner. Well, a man named Travis K. was in one of the smaller casinos, Gold Coast Hotel and Casino, on the Westside of the Las Vegas Strip, and he hit a jackpot worth $10,883.
I can’t speak to whether he actually got out of Vegas without blowing it partying and other gambling games, but if he did get out of dodge while he was in the green, he’s $10k richer! The slot game that paid the 5-figure win was Dragon Link Panda Magic, which is a game designed by Aristocrat Gaming.
The win was confirmed on the Gold Coast Casino Las Vegas Facebook page!
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