People who believed they were big winners in a simple South Carolina Education Lottery game over the Christmas holiday were angry to discover that they won't actually win anything.
That's because a computer glitch awarded many would-be lucky lottery winners thousands of dollars through the Holiday Cash game.
From 5:51 to 7:53 p.m. on Christmas Day, the same play symbol was repeated in all nine available play areas on tickets which would result in a top prize of $500, according to the South Carolina Education Lottery. No more than five identical play symbols should appear for a single play.
"As soon as the issue was identified, the Add-A-Play game was suspended immediately to conduct a thorough investigation," a statement said. "Instant (scratch) tickets and all other lottery games were not affected by this error."
Lottery officials immediately suspended Holiday Cash until further notice until the glitch is reviewed.
Still, that didn't stop angry lottery players from all over South Carolina from heading to the main Columbia office Wednesday morning. A line of players formed outside the lottery office to demand answers.
Holiday Cash Add-A-Play game sales and validations will remain suspended until further notice. The South Carolina Education Lottery advised that 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.
Lottery officials said late Tuesday they are looking to have an announcement on the issue later this week.
The impact of the programming error
Imagine getting a lottery ticket for Christmas, and winning.
That's what happened to two Upstate women Monday.
"I was having a good day and I wanted to try it," Nicole Coggins of Liberty told a local TV station.
She said she had a gut feeling. "I don't play the lottery that much. Every once in a while, I'll buy a Powerball ticket, but something told me to buy a lottery ticket," she said.
Coggins knew she was on to something when she bought a Holiday Cash ticket, and paid an extra dollar to add a play.
Players have to get three Christmas trees in any vertical, horizontal or diagonal line in order to win a prize.
Coggins won.
"I was happy," she said. "I was excited. I was calling everyone I knew, 'I won $500.'"
To test her luck, Coggins bought another ticket.
"And it was another winner and another winner. So I thought, 'Well, maybe there is something wrong with their machine. This can't be real.'"
She drove to two other gas stations with the same result, so she called her mother-in-law, Shawanna Ladd and suggested she try playing the game.
"I played $10 first, and I won on every ticket," Ladd said.
Together they racked up almost $18,000 at different Liberty stores including Marathon, Spinx and Ball Mart.
But their Christmas miracle turned out to be a sham, when Coggins went to cash in the tickets. The cashier put the tickets into the machine, but only disappointment came out.
"It told him 'transaction not allowed,' that the game was not valid," Coggins said.
No one at the stores would talk on camera, but a manager at one store said "it was crazy" on Christmas day, as the word got out about the winning tickets and dozens of people rushed in to buy them.
He said the frenzy lasted for about an hour, before the machines stopped issuing tickets.
The "winning" tickets inserted into the lottery machine to confirm the win said that the tickets were invalid, so no money was issued, he said.
At least one other person reported the same situation, and there were published reports of similar invalid sales in the Charleston area.
The news was heartbreaking for Coggins, who got emotional as she explained that she had already told her kids they were going to take a trip to Disney World.
"I had been promising them for years and I thought I would finally get to, and now I can't," she said.
After spending $100 on lottery tickets, Coggins got nothing in return.
She said Tuesday afternoon that she was still waiting for a response from the South Carolina Education Lottery.
"We didn't do anything wrong. The stores didn't do anything wrong. It's (the SCEL's) fault. I think they should either honor the tickets or give us our money back," Coggins said.
Until then, she's not going to let the so-called glitch ruin her Christmas.
"I'll always have my family and I'm thankful for my family and that's the more important thing in the world," she said.
The SCEL headquarters in Columbia is closed for the holidays and will reopen Wednesday.
Just another example of why computerized games are a joke. People should quit playing these games. The computer is programmed not to pick winners. When you play it can make sure you lose.
The South Carolina Education Lottery might be called Scrooge or The Grinch but in both cases, they changed their penny-pinching ways and were saved.
"We didn't do anything wrong," Coggins said.
Uh, yeah right. She knew there was a problem with the tickets but she kept buying more of them and she even got her mother to go buy some. Greed overwhelmed common sense.
Yep, that's like being the driver in the getaway car of a bank heist. I " wasn't in the bank " l was just waiting outside.It's a mixture of greed & stupidity.How is losing $100 not wrong?
So do you all think they are not going to pay the people that usely purchase 2 or 3 daily.? As that wasn't wrong in my personal opinion.
I didn't even read the article, but I'm sure this case is same ole same ole, we had an error so you are SOL. All I know there should be a "Tough Luck" law in favor of the winners. They did their part buying the ticket, so now pay up! How many times has the lottery have had some type of error, didn't tell anybody, and they still kept players' money? I'm sure many times.
So much for: Program Quality Assurance!
Exactly. Hence, most likely the SC Lottery will offer a refund for all non-conforming, invalid tickets. Hopefully, they make the process simple, but it wouldn't surprise me if the affected players have to mail in the tickets and wait a couple of weeks or so for a refund check. For many lotteries, such as PA, that's usually how refunds for errors are handled.
Presuming the potential prize liability is several million dollars or less, the SC Lottery could easily afford to pay out. However, it sets a bad precedent. There are some types of errors in which a lottery will sometimes pay out (ie. faulty machine drawing, incorrect winning numbers announced, duplicate serial numbers for instant prizes, etc), but printing / display error alone generally isn't one of them.
Being the issue occurred on Christmas day, it would be great for the players to be paid. Maybe SC Lottery will spread some cheer this holiday season.
SCEL has not decided how to handle this yet. They had a mixup with a pick 3 number before and paid both numbers. They try to be fair so I'll wait to see how they remedy the situation.
Computer glitch my azzzz, what a rip off. These lottery commissioners just making a killing for themselves. This is happening too often thru out the States that plays.
so if state claims cliche in machine then 2. options either pay all winners 1. pay all ticket holders amount paid for ticket can't have it both ways...but alot of players probably already threw tickets away.
Kind of torn three ways with this. My first thought was just give the folks the money, say mea culpa and be done with it.
Then they could just refund the cost of each ticket.
Lastly, though not my favorite choice by any stretch is to have the Feds get involved and maybe just put an end to the RNG in good faith. Who knows? I stopped playing Five Card Cash here since it is RNG and notice other states have the same lottery. Not one $100K yet in KY. How can you win when the computer already knows there is not a snow ball's chance in hell of winning the top prize?
2018 will see some LP members win the big one.
Oh man! Here we go again. "The game was 'programmed' incorrectly and it just spit out too many winners."
"I won I won!! I spent my last $4!" "Go to collect they not paying." The lottery said something about the tickets being worth $500 bucks and to hold onto your ticket because you never know if it's worth something. Uh, maybe I'm getting old but if you check your numbers and they match isn't that a sign that you won?
Wow, messed up. computerized games are the worst! Good luck next time---wow.
I think the players should get their money! As much as we spend our hard earned money to play these games they need to ensure that the machines and programs are topnotch...
Psyko agree the winners should get their "money" .....reguaaaaaaardless$$$$$$$$ OF THE PROGRAMER ERROR'$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
HOWEVER, THERE COULD BE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA PROBLEM. WHEN YOU BUY TICKET OR TICKETS. DID YOU AGREE TO abide by all the rules & regulations of this states lottery??????????????????????????????????????????????? if you did you maaaaaaay have lost ALL UR RIGHTSXXXX
GOOD LUCK now and 2018>>>>>>>>>>>>>222222222!
LOL Greed gets them everytime
I wonder if you were able to cash it in before the glitch became known.
Yes!
So true!!!! Wish I would've known I would've got 100 tickets
So what their saying is their lottery is rigged ! Just this time it was"nt rigged in their favor !! South Carolina players should boycott all state lottery, untill those tickete are paid !
It only became a problem when the "the glitch" wasn't in the commissions favor....
l was thinking, about this...
" Coggins knew she was on to something when she bought a Holiday Cash ticket, and paid an extra dollar to add a play.
Coggins won.
"I was happy," she said. "I was excited. I was calling everyone I knew, 'I won $500.'"
To test her luck, Coggins bought another ticket.
"And it was another winner and another winner. So I thought, 'Well, maybe there is something wrong with their machine. This can't be real.'"
She drove to two other gas stations with the same result, so she called her mother-in-law, Shawanna Ladd and suggested she try playing the game.
"I played $10 first, and I won on every ticket," Ladd said.
Together they racked up almost $18,000 at different Liberty stores including Marathon, Spinx and Ball Mart."
There is a precedence for this behavior in scripture.
It is found at : Numbers 11:32
It would be different if they hadn't paid anyone but I was devastated after the people in front of me in line cashed in for $2,000 then when it was my turn the machine started saying transaction not allowed!
Holiday Cash is an add on game.
1. For an extra $1 per play, the lottery terminal randomly generates an Add-A-Play ticket when you purchase one or more of these online games: Pick 3, Pick 4 or Palmetto Cash 5.
You have to buy another ticket to add-a-play.
What are the odds you would win more on the add-a-play than the main ticket? Win every time you added a play??
If it's too good to be true it usually is.
I don't see why people are complaining that the game or lottery games are rigged in SC. It's the lottery! It's designed to only produce a certain about amount of winners. I do agree that you should stay away from RNG games. However, it still doesn't change the fact that the odds are stacked against you. For instance, the Palmetto Cash 5 odds of winning $100,000 is 1 in 501,942. It would take, on average 16.7 human life spans just for your set of numbers to come up once. And that's if the game doesn't produce any errors. Instead of doing the right thing and addressing the situation to the lottery officials, these people decided to let their greed show. At bare minimum, and this what I think will happen, the players should/will get their purchase money back.
After consulting with lawyers SC will be having emergency meeting today at 2pm.