The following is the letter that I wrote to Mary Harville the President & CEO of the Kentucky Lottery.
September 18, 2023
To: Mary Harville (President & Ceo)
Good morning, I'm writing this letter to you because I have tried repeatedly to get help. On 09/08/2023 I played the online game called Payout Peak associated with the Kentucky Lottery. I am a regular player, and I know my limits when it comes to spending money playing the lottery.
On this day I played the a $5.00 dollar game more than once, but on one of the games the character that I used reached the top of the mountain. I was so surprised and happy that I just sat at my desktop and starting thanking God. The game showed me that I had won the top prize of $45,000 dollars, but I only received $5.00 dollars. I was shocked and in disbelief that I was not paid the top prize that this game advertised.
I checked my lottery account all day waiting to receive the money, but nothing. So I called the customer service to find out what was going on. The gentlemen I spoke with was very polite and apologized for the inconvenience. He asked me did I take a screen shot of the game when I had won? I did not take a screen shot because no were in the guidelines that is not required. After walking him through the game on how I had won, he told me that he would put an escalated ticket to get this resolved.
Today is 09/18/2023 and I have called every day and I still have not been paid the money that I rightfully won. I was given a claim number of (usplay-19044). I have did my research on the Kentucky Lottery, and I know that it is through players like me that support the lottery that we pay the salaries of each employee.
If there was a glitch in the system that day that caused me to win, this is not my fault. The graphic designers, game programers, and I.T departments all get paid good money to keep the games working properly.
I believe that if this had happen to anyone else including you, you would want to be paid the money that the Lottery system produced.
I realize that you are busy, but I have not been able to get this matter resolved. I called customer service again this money and the young lady stated that the case is still open and under review.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Pauline Howar
1914 Covey Trace Rd
La Grange, KY 40031
[protected]
[protected]@gmail.com
Cont.
As of 09/27/2023 I have continued to call customer service and I still get the same answer that the claim is still open, and the I.T department is still working on it. I even sent the Director of Technical Services an email explaining that if he would contact me that I could tell him were the issues that occurred with the online game that I played. I have asked for a supervisor to call me, but still I have not received a phone call or anything.
I'm not understanding how the Kentucky Lottery pulls in all this money from players like me, and their employee's get paid top dollars and they can't solve the problem. The salaries that these people receive are no small amounts, but when it comes to helping the players, they will not respond.
It would be different if I had cheated or something, but I won the money honestly through the online game.
Has there ever been an audit done on the entire Kentucky Lottery company? There is something truly wrong, and there needs to be action taken.
I play the same game every day or so, so now I notice that I.T has found the glitch in the game and now the game is working a lot differently. So, what is happening? are some of the employee's just clocking in and not monitoring the games? Something needs to be done.
Desired outcome: To be paid the $45,000 dollars that I won on the online game.