The California Lottery regrets to inform its players that as many as 3900 misprinted Bonus Word Crossword Scratchers® with a green background were available for sale in California from Thursday, November 30, 2006 to Friday, December 8, 2006
The California Lottery deeply regrets this incident and offers its sincerest apologies to its customers. The misprint occurred when the layer of “scratcher” latex on the crossword was misprinted in such a way that it did not match the crossword printed directly on the card below. In this case, the crossword printed directly on the card underneath the layer of “scratcher” latex is the crossword that determines whether the ticket is a winning ticket. The California Lottery is very sorry that this error has occurred and will reimburse any player who purchased a misprinted ticket for the cost of the ticket. The Lottery will continue to pay the prize for any winning tickets. We apologize for the inconvenience and are holding our Bonus Word Crossword Scratchers manufacturer accountable for any financial damages as a result of their printing error. All misprinted tickets that had not been sold were pulled from retailers shelves on Friday, December 8.
Players can determine whether they possess a misprinted ticket by checking the numbers on the back of their Bonus Word Crossword Scratchers. Specifically, players should check the numbers on the back of the ticket on the bottom, and just above the bar code, in the lower right hand corner.
A player might see for instance: 468-707345-6-089 above the barcode.
The first three numbers are the game number: 468 for Bonus Word Crossword Scratchers.
The second six digit set of numbers is the pack number and will help players to determine whether they have a misprinted ticket, 707345 for instance.
The misprinted tickets were part of the ticket batch numbered 707281 to 707400.
Not all of the tickets in that batch were ever available for sale, but if you purchased a Bonus Word Crossword with a green background that lists a number between 707281 to 707400, please contact the Lottery at 1-800-LOTTERY for instructions on how to be reimbursed.
If you have any questions at all please contact us at 1-800-LOTTERY
Thank You,
California State Lottery