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CLEVELAND — On Christmas Eve The Ohio Lottery experienced a cyber security incident. 
Charlie’s Beverage is a popular convenient store in Cleveland. Owner Michael Eadeh said people are constantly coming in to buy lottery tickets.
“We sell lottery like hotcakes here, so it’s kind of concerning that they cannot cash their tickers online and all that,” Eadeh said.
But he said he was unaware of the cyber security issue.
“I just heard about it yesterday, yeah, so and had no clue about it,” he said. “I guess they took advantage of a cyber-attack on Christmas Eve.”
The Ohio Lottery released a statement saying the state wants to reiterate that if any consumer data was compromised, it will take all measures to assist with credit monitoring to protect Ohioans.
They also said they will notify affected individuals as quickly as possible.
The Ohio Lottery said the incident did not involve any Ohio Lottery games or the technology systems on which the lottery operates.
Eadeh said the Ohio Lottery has its own equipment, so it’s out of his control to prevent their customers from dealing with problems.
“They pay either cash or card, and there’s nothing we can do,” Eadeh said.
Ohio Lottery said winning tickets over $599 can be mailed to the Ohio Lottery Central Office in Cleveland for payment.

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