Sales Resume In Lottery InstaPlay Game Following Vendor Glitch
System Error Had Led To Interruption In Sales
Digital images of the Iowa Lottery logo and the InstaPlay logo in JPEG and EPS formats are available.
CLIVE, Iowa - Sales resumed Thursday in one of the Iowa Lottery's InstaPlay games after they were suspended earlier in the week.
A system glitch at a lottery vendor had caused duplicate plays to be produced in the InstaPlay game during a 25-minute period Sunday morning. As soon as the error became apparent, the game was suspended. The “Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay” game was the only lottery product affected.
A total of 28 duplicate plays in the game were sold to players Sunday morning, and Iowa Lottery officials encourage anyone with questions to contact them. Of the 28 duplicate plays sold, 8 indicated winnings totaling $23. The plays involved were sold from 9:05 to 9:29 a.m. Sunday.
The Iowa Lottery conducted a security review following the sales suspension. Among other details, the lottery ensured that: all plays generated Sunday in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game were tracked and the game's progressive jackpot was not impacted; sales of all other lottery products continued normally without interruption; a requested incident report was provided by the vendor to give additional detail about what occurred; and the vendor provided assurance that the error relating to Sunday's difficulties had been addressed. Lottery staff also completed additional testing of the InstaPlay system and noted that it appeared to be functioning normally following Sunday's incident.
After reviewing those details, the Iowa Lottery decided Thursday to resume sales in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game.
During the game's outage, its progressive jackpot remained at $4,923.95, the level it had reached when sales were suspended. Now that sales have resumed, the jackpot will again increase with each ticket sold statewide and it will continue to grow until it is won.
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.
The InstaPlay product combines features from instant-scratch and lotto games. InstaPlay tickets are called "scratchless" because they have no security coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won. And rather than having supplies of tickets printed in advance like those in traditional scratch and pull-tab games, InstaPlay tickets are generated by a vendor system and printed on demand from the lottery terminal.
Shortly after 9 a.m. on Sunday, the Lottery and its system vendor learned 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 that morning. Sales in the game were suspended about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
Any players with questions should contact Iowa Lottery Security at 515-725-7900 or Wmaster@ialottery.com, and if they believe they have one of the tickets involved in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game, they should take it to one of the lottery's regional offices or mail it to: Iowa Lottery, 13001 University Ave., Clive, Iowa 50325-8225.
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