Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 17, 1995 TAG: 9505170087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short
Because a technician typed in the wrong command in the California lottery's computer, an undetermined number of tickets for the Saturday jackpot carried today's date. The stubs, which spewed out of computers for three hours, were honored for the weekend drawing and also are good for a drawing today, giving buyers two chances to win.
``Something like this could certainly happen with any computer system,'' said Cheri Phaup, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Lottery.
In Virginia, sales of Lotto tickets close five minutes before a drawing. Thus, tickets purchased after the cutoff carry the date of the next contest.
``So if you buy a ticket three minutes before the drawing, you are automatically switched over to the next day's drawing,'' Phaup said. No computer problems have affected the Lotto since it began in 1989.
Lotto drawings are held in Virginia on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
- Associated Press
by CNB