Human Error Causes Expensive Va. Lottery Mistake

Oct. 22, 2008— -- Debra and Raul Bennett are faithful lottery players, though in nearly 15 years of playing they never had won much more than pocket money.

So on Sunday, when the retired Hampton, Va., couple realized they had a winning ticket from the Virginia Lottery's brand-new Fast Play Super 7s game, they were ecstatic. Plans for spending the $7,777 -- the game's top prize -- came fast and furious.

But when the Bennetts went to the Hampton Virginia Lottery office Monday morning, there were at least a dozen other winners waiting to collect their $7,777 jackpots.

Lottery officials are saying that a human error caused the game to incorrectly spit out 609 winning tickets, leaving hundreds, including the Bennetts, frustrated and wanting their money.

"Other people started showing up with winning tickets also, and we said 'What is going on?'" Debra Bennett said. "Some people had three of them."

When the Bennetts' ticket was scanned, they were told by lottery workers that it was worth just $2.

If Virginia is forced to pay out all the Fast Play Super 7s jackpots, it could cost millions.

Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty told ABCNews.com today that they are consulting with the Virginia Attorney General's Office to determine what legal responsibility the state lottery has regarding the erroneous tickets.

The Bennetts were already planning to fly their sons and families in for Thanksgiving, and the jackpot would not only have set them up with hotels and rental cars but also would have allowed the couple to fly out to Washington state to spend Christmas with their eldest son and infant granddaughter.

The Glitch That Rocked the Virginia Lotto

The $2 instant game is played by adding up a series of computer-generated numbers. The ticket holder wins money for each set of numbers that total seven, with the lowest prize being $2 for one seven, going up to the $7,777 grand prize for eight sevens.

Hagerty said the error was caught shortly after 9 a.m. on Sunday, just a few hours after Fast Play Super 7s debuted. The game was taken offline, after generating a total of 2,336 tickets, and has not yet been reinstated.