NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - Computer Glitch Causes Lottery Mix Up

Computer Glitch Causes Lottery Mix Up

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - If anyone has played the Tennessee Lottery over the past three weeks some of them had no chance of winning.

There was a problem with the Cash 3 and Cash 4 games.

If anyone bought a Cash 3 or Cash 4 ticket in the past few weeks with duplicate numbers they can get a refund, but they must have the ticket.

A computer glitch made it impossible to win if a ticket holder had those numbers.

The Tennessee Lottery discovered the problem Monday and fixed it. Ironically, Tuesday's winning numbers contains duplicate numbers.

Lottery officials said the problem started when they switched from a ping pong ball system to a computer that generates the winning numbers.

That was 23 days ago.

"When they first changed the program is when I noticed it," said Lee Lemmonds.

Lemmonds noticed the problem, and so did others who watch the Cash 3 and Cash 4 lottery drawings.

"There had been no numbers coming up at all with two or more digits alike," Lemmonds said.

He wrote a letter to lottery officials.

Lottery officials discovered that someone incorrectly programmed the computer so it wouldn't select two or more of the same numbers in Cash 3 and Cash 4.

Lottery officials said they tested the new system, but it appeared to be okay.

"The system was not only certified by the third party who provided it to us, but yet another outside source, Gaming Laboratories Inc., who certified and tested it and we tested it here," said Rebecca Hargrove, president and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery.

Those tests continued through Monday when the problem was discovered.

It's bad news for lottery players like Stephanie Hammonds.

Hammonds played triple threes and sevens.

"I think they need to give me all of my money back that I've already invested," Hammonds said. "They need to give it back to me, which I know they're not going to do that."

The lottery will give people a double refund if they can produce a losing ticket purchased within the past 23 days.

Lemmonds said he doesn't need a refund. He just gets the satisfaction of knowing he was right.

"So, you send a letter and now you hear that you were right," Lemmonds said.  "What can I say? It was obvious?  It was obvious to me there was something wrong somewhere."

If anyone plays Cash 3 or 4 over the next 23 days the lottery will offer additional cash prizes.

To get the refund, they need to go to the lottery office in their area. In Nashville, the office is in Metro Center on Athens Way.

To read the lottery's explanation of what happened, click here.