Dream Number tickets

Background
Dream Number is a National Lottery game with prizes ranging from £2 to £500,000.

Condition
Condition 7.42 of the Third Licence to operate the National Lottery, granted under section 5 of the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 (as amended) requires that any material designed to encourage or enable someone to play a National Lottery game must be accurate and does not mislead.

Description
Between 1 February and 28 March 2009 some Dream Number tickets featured Dream Numbers which were not consistent with those entered into the draw. The situation arose only in specific circumstances, that is when players requested a Lucky Dip selection for Dream Number only and the National Lottery gaming system executed a retry before completing the process of printing the ticket. Camelot became aware of the problem
following a complaint from a player.

The inconsistencies were due to a software error which had occurred when the new gaming system was implemented on 1 February 2009. The software error had no connection to that which resulted in earlier problems with Dream Number during 2008/09.

In 75 cases players received tickets which incorrectly indicated they were entitled to prizes of between £2 and £500. In total eight of these tickets have been presented to Camelot.

In 53 cases players would not have known that they were entitled to a prize as the number printed on their ticket was inaccurate. None of these 53 tickets (which would have received prizes of £2 and £100) have been presented for prize payment and Camelot is unable to trace the holders of the tickets.

Regulatory Action
The Commission concluded that there had been a contravention of Condition 7.42. A licence breach was recorded on 10 November 2009

Outcome
The Commission is satisfied that the problems were caused by a software error which arose in the new gaming system. Camelot’s implemented a software fix in March 2009 and no further problems have been reported to the Commission.