Posted on 01/06/2015 2:43:37 PM PST by workerbee
By John Wines' calculation, the scratch-off ticket he bought at a Roswell, N.M., gas station is worth $500,625. The state lottery says it is worthless.
Wines, a retired heating and air conditioning repairman, bought the $20 "Ruby 7s" ticket on Dec. 6, and went to his car to scratch it off. When his effort appeared to reveal four prizes - two of $250,000, one for $75 and another for $50, he excitedly ran back in to present it to the cashier.
"She scanned it in the machine and told me it isn't a winner," Wines, 65, told FoxNews.com. "I couldn't believe it."
***SNIP***
It turned out the ticket bore at least two critical misprints above the $250,000 jackpots. Wines' winning numbers, listed on another portion of the ticket, were 1 and 2. If either of those appeared above the prize, the ticket is a winner. Wines' ticket appeared to show a 1 above both of the six-figure payouts, but an abbreviation code for the single-digit numbers did not match. It indicated that one was supposed to be a 12 and the other an 18. On each, the second digit was just a tiny smudge.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It was already worthless. The misprint only made it appear valuable.
Great way for the state to cop-out of paying.
It wasn’t a winner. The secondary print showed it wasn’t a match.
I’ll go against the crowd. Pay the winning out. Besides, the lottery official said their excuse was that this was a ‘malfunction’, which is not listed reason to pay out.
Signs of a person bad at math:
1. Lottery player.
2. Slot machine player.
3. Check cashing store customer.
4. Toyota Prius owner.
You mean “peeking”?
Nope, the article I read earlier had a picture of the ticket, and the misprint was obvious, the 8 from the 18 and the 2 from the 12 were partially printed (as was the text below them identifying them as something other than "1"), not only that, but the confirmation code printed on the ticket confirmed it was not a winner, those are used to ensure the winning ticket is legitimate to begin with.
Apparently you do........: )
I used to work at a convenience store and we sold lottery tickets. The tickets were put through a machine which would tell you if it was a winner or not - so, if this ticket was put through the machine - it clearly was a misprint. I find it ironic that the states implemented the lotteries to “help the schools,” and yet the schools are still constantly begging for money. The states also encourage addiction to gambling, then offer their services to help those who are addicted.
Unless there’s a misprint on the code that tells you if it’s a winner, or unless the machine that reads the code malfunctions.
(hey, just playing devil’s advocate)
They're still around, but the prizes are lower. The $5, $10, and $20 tickets have better odds and pay much more. I prefer the $2 and $3 tickets myself at times.
Obvious misprint
If that makes you uneasy don’t do it. It’s a free country and we don’t need busy bodies fretting how other people spend their money.
Maybe we can have a freeper lottery, everyone who gives $1 gets a shot at a free membership
The schools and unions are always wanting more. I prefer to give money to government through the lottery rather than taxes. Taxes are confiscatory. The lottery is voluntary.
or gets to vote for speaker
We also don’t need busy bodies fretting about what other people fret about.
In Florida they would only allow lottery money to go to specific expenditures, such as paint. Any money left over went back to the state and eventually into somebody’s pocket. That’s how politicians commit (what should be) a crime and get away with it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.