Twin River’s Proposed Tech Partner to Run RI Lottery Had Massive Failure in Illinois System
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Twin River recently announced that it is partnering with Camelot, a lottery technology best know for supporting overseas markets.
In the United States, the company’s most recent conversion -- taking over the State of Illinois’ lottery system -- did not go very smoothly.
According to the Chicago Tribune, “People buy lottery tickets hoping to catch a lucky break, and that’s exactly what some people got last week when a glitch with a new Illinois Lottery system caused retailers to overpay on winning tickets. Before throwing on a coat and running out to drop your paycheck on lottery tickets, note: The problem was discovered the same day it began, Feb. 20, and lottery officials were able to fix it that night, said Jason Schaumburg, a spokesman for the Illinois Lottery.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“'We are continuing to work through various technical components of this transition, and look forward to having the system fully online and operational at all retail locations as soon as possible,' the statement, sent to The State Journal-Register in response to emailed questions, said. 'This is one of the largest technology and retail transitions ever undertaken by any U.S. lottery, and we’re confident this will significantly improve the lottery experience for players and businesses when it is fully implemented.'”
More than ten days after the conversion, WGN-TV in Chicago reported, “'Some retailers also reported that they were unable to sell scratch-off tickets through vending machines,' Bill Fleischli, the executive vice president of the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association and Illinois Association of Convenience Stores. said. 'The issue won’t be resolved until the machines are replaced, but retailers can sell the tickets through a clerk,' he said.
'Many Chicago-area stores have received updated machines, but locations downstate are still waiting,' Fleischli said. Illinois Lottery officials plan to have the machines replaced by April, he said.
“A few of our members have expressed a concern to me, and I have expressed it to the lottery,” Fleischli said. “They are working as hard as they can to get these machines installed and operating.”
According to a document from IGT, the Camelot rollout had a number of issues beyond the broken machines and overpayments.
The issues reported included:
• Reports of Retailers not able to sign-in to the new Photon terminal
• Reports of Retailers not able to validate both draw game and Instant tickets. At, 4:00 p.m. on 2/20, Camelot sent an email to all retailers stating, “due to technical issues the Lottery is unable to validate Instant Tickets at this time…”
• Reports of Retailers not able to reach an Intralot Hotline Associate and hold times more than 1 hour in duration
• Reports from Retailers that online tickets are taking longer to generate at terminal
• Reports of Instant Tickets when cashed were producing Validation Receipt with incorrect payment amount (e.g. an apparent $3 winner validated for $150)
• iLottery channel was enabled 27 hours late due to technical issues
• The February 19 Mega Millions Draw was delayed up to 2 hours - reported issues were in Illinois
Efforts to reach Camelot were unsuccessful.
Camelot also had significant issues in Florida. The company was disqualified.
Schaumburg, Communications Director, Illinois Lottery was unavailable for questions about the rollout.
