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
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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.
