The Iowa Lottery posted the wrong Powerball numbers this week – and players who cashed in got to keep their winnings
By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
(CNN) — This week, the Iowa Lottery made payouts to its lucky Powerball winners – along with some lucky losers – thanks to a reporting error that led to incorrect winning numbers being posted on the state’s website.
The lottery mistakenly posted incorrect winning numbers for Monday’s Powerball game online. During the roughly seven hours it took to correct the mistake, players with matching numbers were able to come forward and cash in on the incorrect numbers for prizes ranging from $4 to $200.
The Iowa Lottery streams the Powerball drawings live on its website every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Two people in different locations then enter results from the drawings before they are recorded on the lottery’s website.
This week’s drawing was conducted correctly, but some of the results were entered incorrectly, according to a post on the Iottery’s blog.
The incorrect numbers went live on the statewide gaming system and the Iowa Lottery website Tuesday around 12:30 a.m. – and remained up until about 7:15 a.m. By 3:30 p.m., the corrected numbers were posted, and the lottery resumed cashing the correct winning tickets.
Powerball is played across dozens of states, and the winning numbers were posted correctly on other websites.
The Iowa Lottery chalked the fumble up to human error and did not specify how many people with the incorrect numbers cashed in. “Lottery staffers will continue to review drawing procedures with an eye toward improvements in the future,” the lotter’s blog post read.
Once the correct numbers were posted, the Iowa Lottery said 3,998 tickets for prizes from $4 up to $200 won a total of $24,382 in winnings from Monday night’s drawing.
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