NC Lottery apologizes for processing issues with digital instants

On Tuesday, the North Carolina Education Lottery apologized for a “processing” issue with their digital instants.

The North Carolina Education Lottery launched no-scratch digital instants in November. The top prizes for some games are $150,000.

Some people who played the digital instants said when they tried to call the Lottery and resolve it, they were on hold for over an hour and claimed they received few answers.

Jessica Fox said she was waiting for $300 in winnings.

“For me, it wasn’t a big deal [because] I didn’t need the money right away, but for others who probably shouldn’t be gambling…from the state lottery, you’d expect [they’d be] a little bit more forthcoming with information,” she said.

Officials with the Lottery said they observed an issue affecting withdrawals to VISA debit cards over the weekend.

“While the lottery’s online play system never went down, we did experience a temporary issue over the weekend with online payment processors that caused a delay in withdrawals,” a lottery spokesperson said.

Of the over 13,000 players of digital instants, the North Carolina Education Lottery reported 1,300 withdrawal requests experiencing issues.

The spokesperson for the lottery said some people had made multiple requests and added affected players would be notified by email with instructions to resubmit their withdrawal request.

“All players will receive their prizes,” the spokesperson said. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”