Arizona pauses lottery sales after update crashes system

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Lottery officials have halted all ticket sales and prize redemptions after an update to install two new games caused the system to crash.

Officials said Friday that they were working with the company that operates the gaming system to bring it back online. The outage began Thursday.

All Arizona Lottery retailers have been unable to sell games and winners have been unable to claim prices, but drawings for games will still continue.

Officials said they have no estimate for when the problem will be fixed and sales can resume.

Arizona Lottery Executive Director Gregg Edgar in a statement Friday apologized to player, retailers and those who benefit from ticket sales.

“Protecting the integrity of the Lottery’s games is paramount to our operations,” he said. “We are working diligently to bring our games back online as quickly and reliably as possible while keeping our players, retailers and beneficiaries top of mind.”

Officials said lottery drawings and results still were being posted to the Arizona Lottery’s website, and tickets purchased before the outage are valid but cannot be redeemed until the system is back online.

Arizona Lottery ticket sales have exceeded $1 billion annually for four consecutive years. During the fiscal year ending June 2022, the lottery reported more than $1.36 billion in sales and the transfer of nearly nearly $270 million to education, conservation and economic development programs as mandated under state law.