Kentucky Lottery officials say a vendor software issue affected some lottery vending machines Sunday and Monday and caused tickets to print images that were not part of the game.
Lottery spokesman Chip Polston said this led some players to believe they have won prizes, when in fact, they have not won or won a different prize.
He added the game in question is Tic Tac Cash, a part of the Fast Play family of games. Fast Play games are printed at a terminal or vending machine and work much like a Scratch-off ticket in that a player immediately knows if they have won by matching symbols on the ticket.
Tickets printed in error contained images not in the game, including double exclamation marks and half a star with a single exclamation mark.
Polston said a software upgrade that took place Sunday morning by game vendor IGT caused the issue, and close to 500 tickets were printed with errors. The tickets, when scanned, though, do show the correct prize amount for that play. Sales of the game were halted before noon Monday, and a software fix by IGT was put into place in the vending machines affected by the issue.
The state law which governs Kentucky Lottery operations (KRS 154A.110) states, “No prize shall be paid arising from claimed tickets … that are produced or issued in error.”
IGT, however, has proposed a program for players affected by the error. Players who have an affected ticket can email help@kylottery.com with details or call the Kentucky Lottery customer service hotline at 877-789-4532.
