TaipeiBank (
The bank said the man, surnamed Chen, had told other people how to read the bar codes on the back of tickets, allowing them to choose winning tickets before they bought them.
"The code-breakers have been active mostly in Taichung County," bank vice president Richard Yang (
Yang added that the bank would encourage vendors to keep selling the scratch-off tickets -- which are still valid -- as long they do not show the bar codes to buyers first.
Yang did not say how much the recall might cost, but local media have speculated that the bank may lose more than NT$100 million by suspending five issuances of the tickets.
The tickets sell for NT$100 a piece, with a maximum prize of NT$1 million. Chen, however, was only able to recognize winning tickets of NT$1,000 or less, the bank said.
Tipped off by Taichung vendors, the bank confronted Chen last week and found that he had collected thousands of invalid tickets to study the code.
Chen demonstrated his new-found skill to bank officials, according to local media, picking 11 tickets, seven of which won small prizes.
"The numeric formula for small-denomination winning tickets is usually changed once a year," Yang said. "But from now on, we'll change it from time to time to avoid it being cracked again."
He said that this was the first time anywhere in the world that someone had cracked the code.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gtech Holdings Corp of the US -- the supplier of ticket dispensers -- yesterday warned governments worldwide about the cracking of the bar code in Taiwan as part of "a regular compliance regimen we go through in the event we encounter a concern." But it did not recommend recalls elsewhere, company spokesman Robert Vincent said.
Yesterday, however, the incident was attracting some curious ticket buyers and more complaints.
A vendor in Taipei said that many people approached his booth yesterday and asked for tips after the news broke.
"Some people bought a few tickets while many others questioned whether any tickets could win anymore, since the code has been cracked," the roadside vendor, surnamed Chen, said yesterday.
Moreover, the vendor complained about the incident's negative impact on lottery ticket sales, which have already sagged by nearly 50 percent over the past few months.
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