There are tens of thousands of dollars tied up with people who paid for Kamloops Y Dream Home lottery tickets, but did not get one.

Spokesperson Bryce Herman is apologizing to those 170 people, saying there was a processing error when the site crashed shortly after launching.

“It was explained to me that it was a two-step process. You log on, you make your purchase, that money is then transactioned for. And then it goes back to the ticket purchasing organization, Darelle Media, and they issue the tickets. What happened of course: it may have processed your payment, but the message going back to receive those payments did not in fact happen.”

He says many people have been refunded but many others are still waiting.

“There are some limitations on the amounts that can be refunded within a day, and that’s controlled by the financial institution themselves. So we are beholden to them, as they work through the process.”

For those reasons, Herman says he’s not able to say exactly when all refunds might be processed. “I think the biggest thing for me is to reassure anybody who is waiting on refunds, they will be processed. You will get your refund.”

He says the organization has asked Numeris if it can increase its daily refund limits.

This year’s Y Dream Home lottery will take place on June 30 at 9 a.m., for a home at #105 – 2575 Elston Drive in Westsyde valued at $719,100. Tickets sold out in barely two days for the fundraiser lottery.