It was the most anticipated Sunday of the year - the first Boledo drawing in 6 months. Belizeans all over the country lined up outside subagents as the clock neared 10:00. But when they got to the counter they found that - for one reason or another - the machines weren't working and some stores weren't able to sell.
Turns out there was a malfunction with some of the new machines, the ones we showed you on Friday. The excitement over the return of Belize's favorite game was overshadowed by anticlimax - as faithful buyers had to visit many different stores before they found one whose machine was working, even if only intermittently.
So what exactly went wrong? And will this happen again? We spoke with the managing director of the Belize Government Lottery Limited via telephone today who explained that the demand on jackpot Sunday was just too great - way more than projected.
Voice of: Janel Espat, Managing Director, BGLL
"The developers of the software expected that we would have a very high demand. But obviously we were not prepared for the record sales that actually took place on Sunday and as a result of that, the demand on the server was much greater than was planned for and that is what caused the system to malfunction."
"There were some other minor problems that were reported. The main issue encountered was printing. But we have determined that those issues were as a result of various factors coming from the Bluetooth not being enabled, the connectivity, not being on the Wi-Fi and even the battery saving mode on the device settings that have not been disabled based on the instructions that we had given to them."
"So we've actually had people since yesterday calling, doing video calls. We've had people on the ground visiting the sub-agents, assisting them, ensuring that they understand how to address the problems and how to ensure that all the settings are correct in the system so that the problems don't reoccur."
"The Boledo sales have been on since early this morning and we're happy to report that we have not had any issues reported today."
Reporter
"Do you feel though that it kind of gives you a black eye in the public that the very first drawing, the one, the thing that people have been anticipating for, I would say, the past six or seven months, the return of Boledo, that it had such an issue?"
Janel Espat, Managing Director, BGLL
"Well, like anything else, I think this is a constant work in progress. I just want to reassure everybody that our goal is to provide a system that is fair, that is user-friendly and above all that we always maintain the highest levels of security and integrity."
And for the other subagents awaiting machines, Espat says they'll be in the country in about three weeks.
A press release this evening says, quote,
Sunday lottery sales surpassed the estimated average of $240,000 by almost $100,000 or over 40% when compared to previously reported sales data.
While the developers prepared for a high demand, they were not prepared for the record sales that took place, and as a result, the demand for the server load was higher than anticipated, causing the system to malfunction." End quote.
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