State Accidentally Posts the Wrong Powerball Winning Numbers — But 'Winners' Will Still Get to Cash In The Iowa Lottery issued an update on the situation on Wednesday.
By Emily Rella
The only thing less likely than winning the lottery might be winning the lottery by accident after the wrong numbers are printed.
Such was the case for some not-exactly-winners of the Iowa Lottery Powerball, who believed they had won prizes ranging from $4 to $200 but, in reality, had not. Fortunately, those in possession of these tickets will still be able to cash in on the accidental wins.
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"The Powerball drawing was conducted correctly as scheduled Monday night, and official results were produced. But the Iowa Lottery's redundant reporting procedures failed after the drawing," the Iowa Lottery — said in a blog post on Wednesday. "It takes time to correct an error like that on the lottery's statewide gaming system, which links all the lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in the state. Lottery staff were able to complete the corrections by yesterday afternoon."
The Iowa lottery chalked the mishap up to human error and noted that would-be winners who had turned in their tickets when the incorrect numbers were posted (which was from approximately 12:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. local time on Monday) would be compensated for the winnings they thought they had won.
A staffer noticed the error around 7:15 a.m. and suspended the Powerball results on the lottery terminals, though a delay in the system statewide had the incorrect numbers up for hours.
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The correct winning numbers were posted at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The only tickets affected by the error were Powerball tickets purchased in the state for Monday's drawing.
It was estimated that 3,998 purchased Powerball tickets were declared winners.
