Credit Card Processing Holding Up Arizona Fall Draw Notifications
OutdoorHub 07.23.12
Arizona Game and Fish officials are asking hunters to be patient for the fall hunt drawing results because it takes time to process thousands of credit card transactions.
“The computer lottery-portion of the draw process has been completed, but until all of the credit card transactions are processed, the draw process is not complete and we cannot post who is getting a hunt permit tag,” explained Jim Paxon, chief information officer for Game and Fish.
That’s one of the reasons Game and Fish asked prospective hunters earlier this month to make sure their credit cards are up to date.
Here’s how it works.
Once the computer determines someone has been drawn, then the credit card information is submitted. But the process doesn’t end there.
If a credit card is denied by a card issuer, multiple attempts are made to get authorization to charge it. When the credit card transaction denial is finalized, Game and Fish personnel must then determine who was next in line to get that hunt-permit tag, and then process that person’s credit information as well. In some cases, it might take multiple iterations to finalize the process on a single tag.
“With more than 130,000 applicants this year for the fall draw, it’s just taking time to go through the process,” Paxon said. “If there were a way to speed up the process, we would be doing it.”
With any luck it is possible that the draw results posting will become available by the end of July.
“If for some reason the process takes longer, we’ll do our best to get the word out to all of you,” Paxon said.
