Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 29, 1994                   TAG: 9401290089
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

MISPRINTED TICKETS KILL LOTTERY GAME

The Cash Explosion game featured nine boxes players could scratch to win prizes up to $50,000. But some game cards were printed with 10 boxes, Lottery Director Ken Thorson said.

Six misprinted tickets had come to light earlier, but the Lottery Department said then it would continue to offer the $1 tickets.

"Three more misprinted tickets have come to our attention in the last few days," Thorson said Friday.

One of the nine misprints was a winner, and the ticket holder was paid, Thorson said.

Thorson said he believes the Lottery Department identified all the bad ticket batches but scrapped the game anyway. "We want to be cautious," he said.

Lottery officials began telling retailers Friday not to sell the tickets, he said. Players who won prizes with Cash Explosion tickets have 180 days to come forward.

The game was printed by Scientific Games of Alpharetta, Ga.

The Lottery Department estimated 24 million tickets were sold since the game was introduced in July.