Winning Lotto Ticket Sold in Carlsbad

Tickets containing all six winning numbers in the California Lottery’s weekend “Lotto 6-49” game were sold in Carlsbad and Eureka, lottery officials said Sunday, and each is worth $3,186,409.

There were six tickets containing five winning numbers and the bonus number, and each was worth $282,498. The tickets were purchased in South Gate, Newhall, Los Angeles, Baker, Covina and Modesto.

The winning numbers were: 18, 30, 33, 36, 44, 49 and the bonus number, 43.

There were 277 tickets sold with five of six winning numbers, and each ticket was worth $3,152. Some 14,012 tickets with four of six winning numbers paid off at $56 each, and the 260,149 tickets with three of six winning numbers were worth an automatic $5 each.

Saturday night’s televised drawing was delayed for 50 minutes by what officials first thought was a breakdown of the machine that spits out the balls containing the winning numbers.

“It was human error,” California Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Walker said later.

She said a person who was supposed to press three buttons on the machine that randomly selects the numbers forgot to press the third button in the sequence.

The buttons cause the numbered balls to drop out of the machine. Citizens are chosen randomly to press the buttons that release the numbered balls for the twice-weekly drawing, Walker said, because lottery employees are prohibited from starting the drawing.

Lottery officials already had stopped the 7:55 p.m. statewide broadcast of the drawing before they realized what went wrong, Walker said. When the final button was finally pressed, the balls dropped normally.

Security cameras in the Sacramento TV studio made the required videotape of the drawing, so it is valid even though it wasn’t broadcast live, she said.

Sales from Wednesday night to Saturday’s drawing were $15,878,153. Wednesday’s lottery jackpot is expected to be worth about $5 million.