Accidents happen, including the time Iowa Powerball accidentally posted the wrong roster of winning numbers and paid the temporary winners anyway.
What would you do if your Powerball ticket matched the winning numbers drawn? Imagine your elation and excitement as you head to your official lottery headquarters to verify and collect your win. Then, imagine your disappointment in being told there'd been a mistake. The numbers posted were not, in fact, the winning numbers, and you were no longer the multi-millionaire you thought you were.
It's happened. Iowa Powerball players were in a bit of a stir when the wrong set of winning numbers was posted for a Monday night’s Powerball drawing. On November 27th, 2023, the Iowa Powerball website posted what many may have thought for winning numbers. While these original numbers may have been wrong, the mistaken winners were still able to celebrate smaller wins once the numbers were corrected. Keep reading to learn more about this unfortunate mishap with a silver lining.
Human Error Is Always Possible
Powerball officials state that unspecified “human error” caused the incorrect numbers to be posted for the drawing. Iowa’s Powerball website posted the drawing at about 12:30 a.m. Monday morning, the error was noted at 7:15 a.m., at which time corrections were made.
The initial Powerball numbers that were posted, while wrong, still made winners in their own right! The incorrect numbers still resulted in prizes ranging from $4 - $200. The Powerball system worked tirelessly Tuesday to correct things and resume cashing winning Powerball tickets. It took until 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 28th, 2023, to correct the Powerball system and enable players to resume cashing in their winning tickets.
Officials did not say how many winners there were in error, but the official numbers were 2-21-38-61-66 and Powerball 12, which resulted in 3,998 prize winners.
Not the First Time
This isn’t the first time a Powerball mishap has surfaced. A drawing for the Powerball in D.C. in January of 2023 had a discrepancy between online Powerball numbers and the televised Powerball draw. John Cheeks, whose ticket matched the website’s posted Powerball winning numbers but not those drawn on television, was denied when he attempted to redeem his prize.
Officials at the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming stated that the numbers posted online were a mistake, and Cheek’s ticket was not eligible as a winning ticket. Cheeks took this discrepancy to court for the full Powerball prize amount (plus a little extra) of $340 million. Several groups who run Powerball in Washington, D.C., are defendants in this case, one of which stated that the “wrong” numbers posted online were posted as part of a quality assurance test. According to court documents, however, the “mistake” was not removed from the website until three days after the initial posting.
Who’s All Involved in the Operation of Powerball?
There are more than a few folks that make Powerball happen; after all, it’s a huge operation! Third-party ticket printers supply the tickets themselves, the printing mechanisms, and legitimate and validated marks. Ticket retailers, which include all your authorized Powerball locations, sell tickets and have machines for Quick Pick and ticket reading.
There are regulators and third-party ticket testing labs that ensure that the tickets haven’t been fraudulently redeemed and are original. Security and surveillance departments and personnel are also a part of the ticket delivery and distribution system and have access to restricted areas such as draw locations, studios, etc., or anything else that could alter a legitimate Powerball draw. Then, of course, you have your marketing, promotion, and sales folks that sell the tickets.
With all of the people involved in Powerball operations, there’s bound to be an occasional error.
I Think My Ticket Is a Winner, But How Can I Know for Sure?
If you think your Powerball ticket may be a winner, check with your official Powerball headquarters in the state where you purchased the ticket. They’ll be able to check your numbers against their official numbers for that draw. And as excited as you might be at the moment, try not to celebrate until you've successfully verified the winning numbers. After all, with so many humans involved, there's always a small risk of error in publicizing winning numbers.