With a pair of massive lottery jackpots up for grabs, buyers in Pennsylvania played a waiting game into Tuesday ahead of the big Mega Millions and Powerball draws.
"The Pennsylvania Lottery is modernizing its systems" the Pennsylvania Lottery wrote on a webpage dedicated to the upgrade. "Most of the upgrades are happening to our systems and portals on March 19th, 2024; and that means lottery sales terminals at Lottery retail locations will be temporarily unavailable during that time."
The system upgrade stretched into the early afternoon.
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"Players can now purchase Draw Game and Fast Play tickets from Lottery vending equipment and cash winning tickets as they normally would," the lottery wrote in a news release shared just after 2 p.m.
Tuesday night's Mega Millions jackpot grew to an estimated $893 million annuity, with a cash option of $421.4 million. Wednesday's Powerball draw is at an estimated $687 million, with a cash option of $327.3 million.
Didn't want to press your luck? People could have driven over to New Jersey and Delaware if they didn't want to wait to play.
What is different after the Pa. Lottery upgrade?
The upgrades had been planned for sometime and lottery officials didn't know that "long overdue" upgrade would coincide with the big nationwide lottery draws, Pa. Lottery spokesperson Ewa Swope told NBC10.
"Sixteen years, the lottery hasn't had a new computer system," Swope said.
It should lead to more convenience for buyers and sellers, Swope said.
“The Pennsylvania Lottery is working to upgrade vending equipment, improve our technology, and debut many new features that will improve the playing experience for our players – and this upgrade is one part of that effort,” Secretary of Revenue Pat Browne, who heads the Pennsylvania Lottery, a bureau within the Department of Revenue, said. “We have a thorough plan in place to make sure this transition to the new computer system has as little impact as possible for our players. This phase of our project is mainly taking place behind the scenes, but it’s a big move for us to improve our business, expand sales, and continue our mission of responsibly generating funding for programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians.”
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