Software glitch hits lottery's terminals

05/26/01

COLUMBUS - A software problem idled more than half of the Ohio Lottery's ticket terminals throughout much of yesterday, causing sales to slump and tempers to rise.

"The calls are coming in, and the callers aren't happy," said lottery project director Mardele Cohen.

The problem surfaced about 1 a.m. yesterday when the lottery began installing new software in 5,200 high-tech Altura terminals, said Thomas Schervish, deputy director of information technology for the Cleveland-based lottery.

By midafternoon yesterday, 3,800 of the terminals were still not working, he said.

Schervish couldn't say when the problem would be solved.

The terminals supply tickets for all of the lottery's games, except instant ticket games. Games affected include Buckeye 5, Pick 4 and Pick 3 and the Super Lotto.

Cohen said she could not estimate how much revenue the state stands to lose because total sales figures were unavailable.

But partial sales figures indicated the lottery - already suffering from sluggish sales - will take a financial hit.

As of midday last Friday, the lottery had sold $479,001 worth of Pick 3 tickets; as of midday yesterday, it had sold $261,648. Last Friday's midday Pick 4 sales totaled $167,645; yesterday's midday total was $94,157.

Comparable figures for other games were unavailable yesterday.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 26, 2001