Lottery Discontinuing Sales In One Of Its Holiday Scratch Games After Player Inquiry

The Iowa Lottery is ending sales in one of its holiday scratch games after a review showed that some tickets in the game appear to have been misprinted.

The lottery takes seriously its responsibility to provide its players with accurate information and quality products. And while we have received only one report of difficulties with a ticket in the “Reindeer Games” scratch game with more than 122,000 tickets in it already distributed, we’re removing the game from sale in an abundance of caution.

A player contacted the lottery yesterday, asking about the results of a Reindeer Games ticket. The lottery’s review found that some of the numbers in the play area on the ticket appeared to have shifted to the side as the ticket was being printed. As a result, a portion of the numbers in the play area were obscured.

After receiving the player inquiry, the Iowa Lottery immediately worked with its vendor that printed the game on a larger review. The lottery chose today to remove Reindeer Games from sale because the game does not meet our expectations. The lottery has notified its retail locations that tickets in the game should be removed from sale.    

Any players who have questions about the results of a Reindeer Games ticket should contact Iowa Lottery Security at 515-725-7900 or [email protected]. Although Reindeer Games tickets are being removed from sale, players can continue to claim prizes in the game as normal.

As part of the lottery’s standard verification procedures before a game begins sales, a sampling of the tickets ordered in Reindeer Games were reviewed and tested by lottery staffers. However, any of our scratch games involve hundreds of thousands if not millions of tickets, and with any printed product, there can occasionally be a misprint.

The Reindeer Games scratch game debuted on Sept. 27. It is a $20 game with a holiday theme and multiple play areas on the ticket. Players try to match numbers, letters and symbols in the game to win a prize. Prizes in Reindeer Games range from $20 up to $25,000.

(As background, the lottery ordered more than 377,000 Reindeer Games tickets, and more than 122,000 of those have been distributed as of today. The lottery asked its retail locations today to immediately remove Reindeer Games tickets from sale, and lottery sales representatives will pick up any tickets in the game from retailers in the coming week.)

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Kevin. You are correct that any system involving human beings will be flawed simply because of that human factor. Both ball-drawing equipment and random-number generators have their own vulnerabilities, and lotteries have security procedures in place to best address those. We strive for continuous improvement on that front as technology and our own experiences evolve. You are also correct that this particular legal case was in some ways the worst day for lotteries and in some ways the best day for lotteries in terms of what we learned through it and the improvements we were able to make because of it. The sentence involved in the case was determined by prosecutors and the courts.

[Kevin Pidima]

Quote-"The Lottery takes seriously its responsibility to provide its players with accurate information and quality products"

As I read about Eddie Tipton wanting to appeal his sentence, I again wonder if a computer generated lotto system is 100% random or if it may be possible to program the system to control the numbers picked or not picked to also control when a Jackpot is or is not won?

To be completely random the numbers should be chosen by hand by a blindfolded and glove wearing random person that does not work for the Lottery. Now that's truly random.

A computer is easily programmed (Eddie Tipton proven)to choose or avoid certain numbers to control the out come of the drawing. The balls in a hopper and air picked is closer to truly random, but this can also be manipulated by the weight of certain balls being adjusted to control the balls that are picked.
Not saying the Lottery rigs the draws, just saying the possibility exists, and to be truly random the draw system should be done in a manner something like I stated earlier in my comment.
I do think Tipton needed to be held accountable for his actions, but the fact that the opportunity existed to successfully cheat the system tells me the system has flaws and if the lottery wants to be truly random the draw system needs some work!

Lotto players should THANK Eddie Tipton for uncovering a flawed system, and I also think that Eddies sentence was a little extreme considering no one was injured and he has been ordered to pay the money back.
On the other hand maybe the lottery prefers to control the outcome of it's Lotto games???

[Mary Neubauer]

Another quick update: Any eligible tickets that you have already purchased in the game can still be entered into the holiday promotion.

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Teri. Those details are in this blog entry, and here they are for you: Any players who have questions about the results of a ticket in the Reindeer Games scratch game should contact Iowa Lottery Security at 515-725-7900 or [email protected]. A lottery security investigator will follow up with you after we receive your contact.

[teri l cronan]

i have a ticket that shows i won 20 but the machine says its a loser what do i do with it i have had it for 2 weeks