Thousands of lottery players in South Carolina thought Christmas was their lucky day. 
 
 Starting at 5:51 p.m. last Dec. 25, gas stations and convenience stores across the state dispensed a steady stream of what appeared to be winning tickets. 
 
 Some customers caught on to the anomaly and bought as many as they could. Nicole Coggins, 36, of Liberty, S.C., was one of them. 
 
 “We figured we’d buy a reliable vehicle and take the kids to Disneyland,” she said, adding that she and a few other family members kept playing the game until they amassed what they thought were thousands of dollars in winnings. 
 
 But Ms. Coggins was not able to cash in. The state suspended the game after two hours, at 7:53 p.m., and in a statement two days later, the South Carolina Education Lottery said its computer system vendor, Intralot, had experienced a programming error. ||||| COLUMBIA, SC (May 30, 2018) – Any lottery player who holds a Holiday Cash Add A Play ticket depicting nine (9) Tree symbols which was purchased on December 25, 2017 between 5:51 pm until the close of the game at 7:53 pm will be reimbursed the purchase price of this ticket. The South Carolina Education Lottery (SCEL) Board of Commissioners voted to reimburse the purchase price paid by each Holiday Cash Add-A-Play ticketholder bought on December 25, 2017 on or after 5:51 p.m. because these tickets were produced or issued in error. This decision is required by South Carolina Code Section 59-150-230(C)(3)(a) which provides that prizes arising from a ticket produced or issued in error must not be paid. 
 
 
 
 Before making the decision the tickets were produced or issued in error, SCEL retained Gaming Laboratories International, LLC (GLI) to conduct an independent, impartial analysis. We appreciate players’ patience during this independent investigation. The results of this analysis revealed coding errors by SCEL’s former computer gaming vendor, and the vendor’s inadequate quality assurance testing that would have discovered these errors prior to deployment of this game. These actions caused approximately 71,000 plays (wagers) to be erroneously produced, issued and printed with nine (9) Tree symbols, which were incorrectly recognized as a $500 winning play. Regrettably, these errors by the former vendor led loyal players to mistakenly believe that they held winning tickets. While SCEL is mindful of the magnitude of this decision on its players, any other decision would not comply with the law. 
 
 
 
 To seek the refund of the purchase price of the tickets, a player should mail the original Holiday Cash Add-A-Play tickets (no copies or other reproductions will be processed for reimbursement) purchased on or after 5:51(17:51) P.M. on December 25, 2017 to this address: 
 
 
 
 S.C. Education Lottery 
 
 P.O. Box 11039 
 
 Columbia, SC 29211-1039 
 
 
 
 Include your name and return address. SCEL will refund the purchase price for each returned ticket and reimburse the player for postage up to the amount of first class USPS postage for the ticket(s) submitted to SCEL. Since these reimbursements will require manual processing, we ask that players mail in all tickets to avoid wait time at the Claim Center. 
 
 
 
 Requests for Holiday Cash Add-A-Play refunds must be received by SCEL no later than January 7, 2019. 
 
 
 
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 ||||| South Carolina Lottery Christmas Winners Won't Get Prizes 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Fitria Ramli / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Fitria Ramli / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm 
 
 For two glorious hours it was the gift that kept on giving. And on Christmas Day no less. 
 
 Between 5:51 p.m. and 7:53 p.m. last December, South Carolinians playing the state lottery were treated to tens of thousands of winning Holiday Cash Add-A-Play tickets, each worth up to $500 regardless of the holder's good or bad behavior. 
 
 It was an improbable lucky streak that was, in fact, too good to be true. And on Wednesday, the South Carolina Education Lottery announced it will not be delivering more than $30 million in prizes to players who bought tickets during the brief window "because they had been produced in error." 
 
 A computer glitch was behind the fortuitous — or unfortunate — anomaly, depending on what side you're on, that caused gas stations and convenience stores to issue about 71,000 winning plays. 
 
 The objective of the tic-tac-toe-like game was to line up three Christmas trees in any direction — horizontal, vertical or diagonal — for a cash prize ranging from $2 to $500. But lottery officials said a five-month analysis of the incident "revealed coding errors" leading machines to repeatedly print tickets depicting nine tree symbols resulting in the biggest prize. 
 
 The South Carolina Education Lottery blamed its former computer gaming vendor, Intralot. The state lottery said the Greece-based company failed to run adequate quality assurance testing prior to deploying the game. 
 
 "Regrettably, these errors by the former vendor led loyal players to mistakenly believe that they held winning tickets," the South Carolina Education Lottery said in a statement. 
 
 "This is a very unusual and specific situation because it has to do with the nature of the game," an Intralot representative told NPR, adding that he could not go into further detail. 
 
 The official noted the company's quick response time to the mistake. "We all became aware of the problem within hours," he said. "We were able to identify that there was unusual behavior very quickly and we followed the correct procedure to shut it down." 
 
 "We think it was a pretty good response," he said. 
 
 Winners-in-waiting have been holding out hope that the lottery board of commissioners would decide to honor the prize value of the tickets. But after an hours-long meeting Wednesday the commissioners ruled players would be reimbursed only for the cost of each lottery ticket: $1 for each claim that is mailed in. 
 
 "This was not a lottery discretionary matter," Tim Madden, one of the lottery's attorneys told FOX Carolina. "Once this board decided that these tickets were issued, produced or printed in error, then state law mandates that no prize shall be paid." 
 
 Holli Armstrong, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Education Lottery, told NPR the cost of the error-filled tickets would have totaled approximately $35 million. But in light of the board's decision, the lottery is out about $1.7 million — the sum players were able to cash-in before the mistake was discovered on Christmas Day. 
 
 That leaves scores of unhappy people who feel they're entitled to the full cash prize. 
 
 "It's not fair," Nicole Coggins complained to The New York Times. "It's not right." Coggins was planning on making large purchases with her winnings, including a car and a trip to Disneyland. 
 
 Coggins is part of one of two lawsuits that have so far been filed against the state lottery and Intralot on behalf of people who have been denied prize money, according to the Times. 
 
 The South Carolina Education Lottery reported record ticket sales in the most recent fiscal year (2016 - 2017) totalling $1.64 billion and issued more than $1 billion in prizes. Nearly $5 billion has been allocated to education programs throughout the state since the start of the lottery in 2002.
– The Christmas miracle that wasn’t. Last year on Christmas Day, lottery dispensers at convenience stores and gas stations across South Carolina started doing something remarkable. For two hours they spewed out winning tickets of up to $500 like candy. Lottery officials quickly figured out the problem, and cashiers began seeing the message, “transaction not allowed,” when customers went to collect their prizes, reports the Washington Post. But before the bonanza was over, 71,000 of the $1 Holiday Cash Add-A-Play tickets had been dispensed, with the errant prize money totaling about $35 million. So, what happens to all the winning tickets that were rejected? They are worth exactly $1, the state lottery board announced on Wednesday. The winners will not get their prize money, but they can get a refund. After a five-month investigation, lottery officials found the problem was caused by coding errors, reports NPR. The officials say Intralot, a Greece-based ticket vendor, did not run proper testing procedures before releasing the game. "While [the state lottery] is mindful of the magnitude of this decision on its players, any other decision would not comply with the law,” officials said, per the New York Times. Players holding winning tickets are not happy. Nicole Coggins, who thought she had won $18,000, has filed a class-action lawsuit against the lottery commission and the vendor, one of two lawsuits that have been filed, according to the Post. “We think it’s a breach of contract if the commission decided to deny them their rightful winnings,” her lawyer says. "It's not fair," Coggins tells the Times. "It's not right."