Dream Number Tickets

Background
Camelot is required to ensure that any material designed to encourage or enable a player to enter into or play a Lottery game is accurate and does not mislead players.

Condition
Condition 9(31) of the second licence granted under Section 5 of the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 (as amended).

Description
Discrepancies were identified between Dream Number wagers on the gaming system and entered into draws and the details provided on players’ tickets in 185 instances. The discrepancies occurred in a particular set of  circumstances, that is when purchasers used Fast Pay cards for Lotto and Dream Number, requested a Lucky Dip selection for Dream Number and the gaming system executed a retry before completing the process of printing the ticket. The discrepancies came to light during August and September 2008, following a player complaint. A software fix was implemented on 5 September 2008.

In 144 cases, there was no material detriment to players. 18 tickets featured Dream Numbers which would have wrongly led players to conclude they were entitled to a prize of £2, £10 or in one case, £100. Of these, 14 tickets (which would have incorrectly suggested winnings of £2 or £10) have not yet been presented for prize payment. In 23 instances, players would not have known that their wager was eligible for a prize as the number printed on their ticket was inaccurate. None of these 23 tickets, covering prizes of between £2 and £100, have been presented for prize payment and there is no way of identifying the holders of the tickets.

Regulatory Action
The Commission has investigated the circumstances which led to the incident arising. Having considered these the Commission concluded that there had been a contravention of the licence requirement. A licence breach was recorded on 23 March 2009.

Outcome
The Commission is satisfied that the problems were caused by a software error (which initially occurred only in rare circumstances) and that Camelot’s investigation and response was effective.