New Zealand lotto glitch takes customer’s money and supplied no ticket

Ahead of a $34 million jackpot, a glitch in the Lotto New Zealand website left many customers without a ticket. Amanda Smart was one of those unlucky customers who attempted to buy tickets online. When she went to check the results of her tickets after the draw she couldn’t find any tickets linked to her account.

She stated that she was very surprised that she had no tickets as she had made a payment to receive two. Smart did notice that at the time of purchase the website was taking some time to process the order. However she had assumed that the tickets and the order had been processed as the money got deducted out of her account.

Smart also stated that she did not receive any error message during her purchase nor was there any website alerts to notify customers.

The issue has raised concerns as people would have extended past their usual lottery budget to try and get a piece of the large jackpot. Smart who usually spends $12 every fortnight for a ticket splurged to $30 to take advantage of the jackpot. However the situation has left her and many other customers very annoyed. She also stated that there has been no warning about the issue to her knowledge.

Lotto New Zealand came out with a statement that said anyone who experienced this issue during the $34 million jackpot will receive a full refund.

Marie Winfield, the head of communications and corporate social responsibility at Lotto New Zealand, stated that there was a technical issue affecting the website around 6.30pm. Customers who were trying to top-up their account may have experienced the same glitch that Amanda Smart did.

It is unknown at this time how many people were impacted by this glitch.