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Washington Lottery published wrong numbers after raffle draw

Jan 3, 2013, 7:32 pm

Blames 'computer glitch'

SEATTLE, Wa. — A North Seattle man couldn't believe his eyes. His ticket in the lottery's Veteran's Raffle was a winner.

He checked the numbers, and then checked them again.  "I was so excited! I couldn't believe I had won the lottery!" he said.

The problem is, he didn't. What he thought was a $1,000 winner was a dud.

"I got up early and went to the lottery office, and they told me my ticket was invalid," he said.

Lottery officials say a computer glitch posted the wrong numbers online Wednesday night. The numbers posted were not the numbers actually drawn.

"Unfortunately, those are not winning tickets and, by state law, we cannot honor any of them," said lottery spokesman Arlen Harris.

Marketed as "the easiest way to win $1 million," tickets for the raffle were $10 each and the proceeds benefit veterans causes in the state.

Lottery officials believe there are 131 bad tickets out there. They concede there may also be people out there who thought they lost after checking numbers last night and are actually winners. One of them could have thrown away $1 million. The million dollar winner has not yet come forward.

"We are terribly sorry about this," said Harris. "We are bringing in a third party to audit our system to make sure this never happens again and that people retain their faith in the state lottery."

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