FIJI Tattslotto has assured its customers the issue regarding the late transmission of a lottery entry into Tattersalls online gaming system in Melbourne was an isolated instance.
In a statement, Fiji Tattslotto resident executive director Graeme Brown said the company would continue to pursue ways to reduce those failures.
“Customers can check the winning numbers and dividends through a number of sources including the news time program on Fiji TV One each Sunday night, The Sun (News) Limited newspaper in the Tuesday, Friday and Saturday editions each week, the result line seven days a week, 24 hours a day — the telephone contact number is printed on the ticket and displayed in the news time program — and display boards at each of the agencies,” he said.
“In the event that a winning ticket has not been presented to the agent to claim a prize within two weeks of the draw taking place, a cheque is issued and mailed to the customer at the address provided when the customer first registered with the agent. Customers can continue to play Tattslotto with confidence.”
The Consumer Council of Fiji had earlier highlighted an incident where a consumer had won in the Tattslotto fifth division prize pool of $4million but could not be declared a winner because his ticket was not in the Tattslotto computer system and the Fiji agent had not forwarded the numbers to the Tattersall online gaming system in Australia on time.
“In addition to the disclaimer clause printed on the ticket, an important notice to customers’ terms and conditions is prominently displayed at the point-of-sale terminal including inter alia that ticket purchases may not reach Australia in sufficient time to be included in the game,” Mr Brown said.
“This may be caused by events such as power, communications and technology failures. In the event that there is a failure to purchase the ticket, the customer may receive a refund of the original purchase price or a ticket is automatically purchased in the next available draw of that particular game.”
He said the terms and conditions would be revised to clarify the events should a ticket entry in a particular game be unsuccessful for whatever reason.
Meanwhile, the council had contacted Tattersall’s Australian support team who advised that the Tattslotto “receipt does not constitute a valid game entry until accepted at the Tattersall’s online game system in Melbourne, Australia”.
