DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Human error in Iowa was behind a delay in the midweek Powerball drawing, lottery officials said Thursday.

Wednesday night’s drawing in a Des Moines suburb was delayed 37 minutes – the second such delay in a month. The May 25 drawing also missed the time reserved for it to be broadcast to 90 television stations across the nation.

Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, said human error was to blame for Wednesday’s delay.

“In this particular case, someone did look at the sales figures but didn’t realize there was a discrepancy and the figures weren’t fed into the computerized system until 20 to 25 minutes before the drawing,” she said. “The figures needed to be balanced and the drawing was delayed.”

She characterized the discrepancy as “just a few dollars” and declined to elaborate.

Neubauer declined to give further information about what happened, but did say measures would be taken to further ensure the integrity of the Powerball game.

“We are stepping up our internal staffing requirements for the Powerball game,” she said. “Integrity is our paramount concern.”

Chuck Strutt, director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball, said in a statement that every state involved in the game is required to confirm that two copies of sales data balance before the drawing can take place.

“We will not risk any chance of compromise to the game,” he said.

The game was delayed for 42 minutes on May 25 when a security officer arrived late at one of the sites where transaction data is confirmed before the numbers are drawn. A $5 discrepancy in transactions prompted an alert in which a security officer was required to monitor procedures while lottery officials resolved the discrepancy.

Powerball is played in 27 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The numbers drawn Wednesday night were 9, 13, 23, 42 and 51. The Powerball was 15 and the power play multiplier was 5.

No tickets sold matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, which increases to $62 million for Saturday’s drawing.



On the Net: Multi-State Lottery Association: http://www.musl.com/