PA lottery: Cracked lottery ball costs the state $411,216

Thursday, May 03, 2007 posted 02:23 AM EDT

HARRISBURG -- A crack in a plastic pingpong ball has cost the state Department of Revenue a cool $411,216.

The cracked ball was used in the state's televised MATCH 6 game Tuesday at 6:59 p.m.

The six balls drawn -- 13-18-27-29-32-33 -- resulted in a payout of $366,805, said Stephanie Weyant, press secretary for the state revenue department, which oversees the Pennsylvania Lottery.

But then, an hour or so after the televised drawing, lottery officials conducting a routine check looked at the No. 36 ball "and found it was broken into pieces," she said.

They then looked at the videotape of the drawing -- all drawings are videotaped for security -- and determined that the No. 36 ball was cracked at the time the first drawing was held.

As a result, "the players who had selected the No. 36 ball didn't have an opportunity to win on the first drawing," said Ms. Weyant, who'd been deputy revenue press secretary for four years but just took over the top spot on the day of the snafu.

Lottery officials who were on the scene at Channel 21 studios in Harrisburg, where the drawings are held, immediately checked with top revenue department officials.

They decided, in an effort to be fair, to conduct a second, non-televised drawing, in which the winning numbers were 04-11-12-19-21-27. That payout was $411,216.

Despite the double payout, the lottery still took in more in MATCH 6 bets than it paid out. Customers bought $907,116 worth of tickets and the total payout was $778,021.

"We use high-quality plastic pingpong balls, but they're not indestructible. They can break," she said.

The lottery had a precedent for conducting the second drawing because of a defective ball, Ms. Weyant said. The same thing happened on March 24, 2002.

A lot of videotaping, up to three hours worth, goes on each afternoon related to the lottery drawings, she said. Before the televised drawing at 6:59 p.m. nightly, there are 12 "pre-drawings" held to make sure that all the balls weigh the same and are in good condition.

"They examine the balls for flaws and ensure that all drawings are done randomly, with every number given the same chance to come up," she said. That's how lottery officials knew there wasn't a problem with the No. 36 ball before the live drawing.

The pre-drawings also are done to avoid any repeats of the "weighting" scandal of the early 1980s. During the infamous "666" lottery fix, some balls were weighted -- that is, made slightly heavier than the other balls so they had less chance of being drawn than lighter balls.

Ms. Weyant said that after each night's live, "official" drawing is held, there are three more "post-drawings," again done to ensure that balls are being chosen randomly and the equipment is working properly. The same attendants -- lottery officials, a senior citizen observer and accountants -- are on hand for the post-drawings as for the live drawing.

During the first post-drawing on Tuesday evening, she said, "we found that the No. 36 ball had been broken when the live drawing took place. They reviewed all the tapes and found that the 36 ball was broken."

Asked how a pingpong ball gets broken into pieces, she said: "I assume it started as a crack."

Revenue department officials then decided "the right thing to do was conduct a second [non-televised] drawing and pay out on both drawings," she said.

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