Montana Millionaire game postponed, state lottery says

The Montana State Lottery experienced a “continued technical issue” this weekend in its Montana Millionaire game, which the state agency postponed on Nov. 1.

Each year, the state lottery runs a game that picks several winners for a prize of $1 million. This year, the lottery was set to pick six tickets that would win $1 million each and additionally one person to win $250,000 and thousands of other smaller cash prizes.

Tickets were on sale starting at 5:30 a.m., on Nov. 1 and Montanans routinely line up for hours ahead of the tickets going on sale. Last year, 620,000 tickets sold out in just six hours.

This year, ticket sales were chaos, according to news outlets around the state, and it remained a topic of discussion in gas stations, bars, and social media across the state on Monday.

Problems began early Sunday morning, according to Q2 in Billings, with the system crashing shortly after sales started.

At 11 a.m. on Sunday, the state lottery made the “difficult decision to postpone the game,” it said in a Facebook post, adding that a new date and time for sales would be forthcoming. The lottery has not announced a new sales date as of Monday.

In a statement to the Daily Montanan, Montana Lottery said it would provide information out about a new date when it was decided, adding it would “provide adequate notice” before the game starts.

“A new sales date and time will be announced once the technical issues have been fully resolved and the Montana Lottery can ensure that all sales and game data have been properly validated,” a state lottery Facebook post said.

On social media, the state lottery blamed issues related to the game’s vendor, Bally’s Intralot. State contracts with that company have been under intense scrutiny by lawmakers in recent years.

In a statement, Montana Lottery said the system “experienced performance issues due to the high volume of transactions occurring simultaneously.” It also added “Instant Win” prizes were being awarded more frequently than intended while sales were briefly ongoing on Sunday.

Information about the Montana Millionaire game was also not displaying correctly on its website and mobile platforms.

Those who did buy Montana Millionaire tickets are asked to hang on to them as they are still valid. There were 12,919 Montana Millionaire tickets sold before the postponement announcement, Montana Lottery said.

Instant wins can still be redeemed by players. No winning Montana Millionaire tickets have been drawn, the state lottery said.

“The sales agent must scan the barcode of the instant win coupon so the appropriate accounting can take place,” the lottery said in a press release. “Players that received Montana Millionaire tickets need to hold onto them because they will still be a part of the prize pool once sales resume.”