STATE : Lottery Resumes Operations

The California Lottery resumed normal operations today after an unidentified malfunction in the computer that logs Lotto and Decco bets halted millions of dollars in payouts to tens of thousands of winners.

Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Walker said payout of prizes began again at 6 a.m. after a team of four computer experts worked through the night to fix the problem, the first of its kind in the four-year history of the state-run operation.

The cause of the problem remained unknown, however, though officials said they believe it was in the computer’s hardware--the actual machinery.

“It was one of those glitches from an unidentifiable source,” Walker said .