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Lotto payment glitch: 25,000 pay too much

AUCKLAND REPORTER

AN Auckland punter was left facing the prospect of a Labour Weekend with no money after a payment glitch when buying an online Lotto ticket.

He is among 25,000 Kiwis to have potentially experienced the overpayment issue before Wednesday’s bumper $42m Powerball draw, Lotto spokeswoman Lucy Fullarton said.

The source of the issue was problems with the card processing systems of Lotto’s ‘‘payment partners’’ made worse by heavy traffic on the online MyLotto platform before the draw, she said.

The man, who has limited means, was dismayed to find he had paid more than $200 into his account, four times what he intended.

His situation was confirmed by Fullarton. Sunday News agreed not to report his identity.

‘‘I just can’t believe this,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a disgrace.’’

He was told it would take three to five days for his refund to be processed, leaving him with no funds for the long weekend, he said.

Fullarton said the issue occurred from just before 7pm Wednesday, to 7.30pm.

‘‘This issue unfortunately meant some customers attempted to top up their MyLotto wallets multiple times, because they did not see the funds appear after the first attempt.

‘‘As a result, the total amount they transferred to their MyLotto wallet ended up being more than they had intended.’’

Twenty-five thousand customers were affected, or four percent of the total who purchased tickets, she said.

‘‘On Thursday we processed refunds for affected customers. Many customers have already had the funds credited back to their accounts, but the time it takes will depend on the time it takes for their bank to process the transaction.’’

Fullarton said Lotto empathised with the customer’s situation and had tried to resolve the situation with him on Friday. ‘‘We sincerely apologise to this customer and to all those affected.’’

NEWS

en-nz

2021-10-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281706912885532

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