A vendor system glitch has led to sales being suspended in one of our InstaPlay games.
Our initial review shows that the error caused 28 duplicate plays to be sold to players during a 25-minute span this morning in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game.
Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn summed up our response really well today.
“The number of players impacted and the tickets involved in this situation may be modest, but you simply cannot put a price on doing the right thing,” he said. “The right thing today was to suspend sales of the game in question and have our team work to fix the issue. Maintaining the integrity of Iowa Lottery products and giving every player a fair chance to win every time must be job one.”
The Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game appears to be the only Iowa Lottery product impacted. Sales in that game were suspended about 9:30 a.m. today, and remain suspended at this time. Lottery records show that of the 28 duplicate plays sold in the game, 8 indicated winnings totaling $23.
The $2 Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game has been sold in Iowa since November 2016. Its top prize is called progressive because it starts at $2,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.
Shortly after 9 a.m. today, the lottery and the vendor for its statewide gaming system noticed that sales in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game appeared to have reset to a point several hours earlier as an apparent result of a system and equipment reset that the vendor performed this morning. The glitch caused duplicate plays to be issued in that game. Once the issue was identified, sales in the game were immediately suspended. A total of 28 duplicate plays in the game were sold to lottery players from about 9:05 a.m. until 9:29 a.m. Sunday.
Any players with questions should contact Iowa Lottery Security directly at 515-725-7900 or [email protected]. And if you think you have one of the tickets involved in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game, please take that ticket to one of our regional offices or mail it to us at: Iowa Lottery, 13001 University Ave., Clive, Iowa 50325-8225.
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