Connecticut will honor tickets in lottery snafu

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- Connecticut lottery officials said Saturday they will honor lottery tickets containing numbers of two lottery balls that got stuck during a drawing.

The numbers 18 and 27 were placed in a mixer for the "Cash 5" drawing Friday night, but they got stuck in the number chute as the other 33 balls fell into the chamber, said Diane Patterson, spokeswoman for the Connecticut Lottery Corporation.

Patterson said lottery officials didn't notice the problem until after the drawing, which was televised live.

As a result, officials will honor tickets with winning combinations of the numbers drawn, 1-2-9-24-33, plus tickets containing 18 and/or 27. Patterson said.

There were more than 4,800 winning tickets sold from the original five numbers and which would have brought a payout of $138,058. The addition of 18 and 27 resulted in nearly 6,000 more winning tickets and increased the payout to $428,500.