Montana Lottery halts sales of holiday raffle after crash

On November 1, 2026, in Helena, Montana, a technical malfunction forced the Montana Lottery to halt sales of its annual Montana Millionaire holiday raffle shortly after they opened. Lottery Director Bob Brown addressed the rollout failure, announcing a temporary postponement while the state and its vendor work to fix the system.

Technical Glitches Halting Sales

The rollout of the highly anticipated Montana Millionaire raffle came to a sudden halt across the state when lottery terminals stopped issuing tickets just moments after sales officially opened at 5:30 a.m.

Before launch, the state and vendor Bally’s Intralot performed extensive testing on the new central gaming system installed earlier this year. Bob Brown noted that volume testing was conducted at approximately double the highest sales volume the Montana Millionaire game had ever experienced. Yet, the sheer volume of live transactions proved too much for the system to handle smoothly.

Managing Unexpected Payouts and Ticket Validity

Before the system crashed, 12,919 of the $20 tickets were sold out of the total 720,000 available for the game. Among those early purchases, players hit a remarkably high volume of instant wins. More than 2,000 tickets yielded cash prizes, with 991 players winning $100 and 1,019 winning $500. This resulted in an instant-win frequency of roughly one out of every six tickets, a stark departure from the expected ratio of one out of 74.

“I am encouraged by them stepping up and taking the steps to do the right thing by the people,” Bob Brown said regarding Intralot covering the unexpected costs.

All early instant wins will be fully honored, and the 12,919 tickets already purchased remain completely valid for the final drawing scheduled for December. To maintain fairness for future buyers, the lottery plans to add more instant-win prizes back into the pool so that subsequent ticket buyers maintain identical odds. This adjustment leaves the state facing up to $600,000 in additional prize payouts, a cost that vendor Bally’s Intralot has agreed to absorb.

System Fixes and Reopening Timeline

While the state and its vendor have successfully identified a software fix, officials spent Monday working through further testing procedures. Brown declined to provide specific technical details regarding the root cause of the system crash. However, he emphasized that leadership is dedicated to rigorous validation before bringing the holiday game back to the public.

Montana Lottery halts sales of holiday raffle after crash

Metric	2025 Figure	2026 Details
Total Tickets Available	Not specified	720,000
Tickets Sold on Opening Day	620,000 (Sold out in over six hours)	12,919 (Before system halt)
Ticket Price	$20	$20

Officials have not yet set a precise date or time for when Montana Millionaire ticket sales will resume. Brown stated that the lottery intends to give retail partners and the public ample advance notice to prepare for the relaunch.