Illinois Lottery Bounces $159,000 In Checks To 85 Winners

Officials for the Illinois Lottery are apologizing for a computer error that led to $159,000 in checks to lottery winners bouncing during the holidays.

According to Lottery spokesman Mike Lang, 311 checks were written on Dec. 28, but a computer file that was supposed to be sent to the bank to authorize payment by 2 p.m. wasn't sent in time, resulting in the bouncing of 85 checks.

Most of the bounced checks were for $1,000 scratch card winners, with the largest bounced check totaling $9,500. When winners went to deposit their checks, they soon discovered the funds weren't available. If their respective banks presented the check a second time, the corrected glitch would have cleared the checks.

Lang said the Lottery will cover any bak fees associated with the bounced checks and is sending those affected free scratch-off tickets. (Yeah, feed that dragon some more.)

“It’s something that we are not happy with, and we’re taking steps” to see it doesn’t happen again, Lang said.