[ExI] a new low

[Damien Broderick]

(Manchester Evening News)

A LOTTERY scratchcard has been withdrawn from sale by Camelot - because
players couldn't understand it.

The Cool Cash game - launched on Monday - was taken out of shops
yesterday after some players failed to grasp whether or not they had
won.

To qualify for a prize, users had to scratch away a window to reveal a
temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card. As the game
had a winter theme, the temperature was usually below freezing.

But the concept of comparing negative numbers proved too difficult for
some Camelot received dozens of complaints on the first day from players
who could not understand how, for example, -5 is higher than -6.

Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win
with several cards.

The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE,
said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower
than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won,
and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the
machine said I hadn't.

"I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is
higher - not lower - than -8 but I'm not having it.

"I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression - the card
doesn't say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to
look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8.
Imagine how many people have been misled."

A Camelot spokeswoman said the game was withdrawn after reports
that some players had not understood the concept.