In Maryland we have scanning machines where you can check online games (not scratch offs) - but it only tells you if the ticket is a winner or a loser - I wish that if it is a winner that it also showed how much you won.  Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe everyone is responsible for checking their own tickets and knowing how much they won - but it would be nice to have confirmation without the human factor.

A smart entrepreneur ought to glom onto that need, do something on the order of what H&R Block did in the '80s with the income tax return thing.... you feeds the tickets to the machine, the machine pays off your winnings minus, hmmm 10 percent for anything over $100.  Sort of an ATM kinda thing.

Jack

You have a knack for seeing the "other" side of things -- and a knack for giving me the "laugh of the day"!

Amen to that!  (Scanning machines.)

You have to wonder if it was an error on the clerks part, or if their was larceny in his heart when the ticket wasn't proclaimed a winner. Having second thoughts he later returns the ticket to the rightful owner with a cover-up story to mask his original intentions.

Scaning machines that just show win or lose are no good, we need scaning machines to show how much u win. A convenience store clerk's wage, at least in boston cann't even pay half of monthly rent nevermind food and other stuff. There is no doubt that the clerk has to make his ends meet.

I always high lite the winning numbers on my tickets before cashing them in.  Even if I win nothing, I like to know how close my picks came to winning and the clerks are encouraged to rescan my tickets or return them to me if the scanner doesn't response.  Some times the terminal can't scan the tickets if the bar codes aren't dark and a hand scan unit on the side of the terminal has to be used.

In all honesty the person did not have to get one red cent for his honesty.  So the fact he was given $200 is nice IMHO.

I'm sure that clerk preferred to have a honest tip regardless of the amount or he would have cashed in the ticket himself and had a dishonest $100,000 and the fear of being caught.

RJOh

In fairness, the store clerk was honest but his incompetence led to the mistake, which led to his chance to be a nice guy.  If he had read the machine right the first time, there would have been no need for his valiant honesty.  Should he have got anything from the winner in that case? $200 sounds fair to me.  The store probably gets a bonus from the lottery, he can see if the owners also think he is worth $200.  Let's hope someone in town makes note of his deed and gives him a better job.  

I agree with Tony2222 - being a clerk is an underpaid and lousy job, and I'm not surprised some choose to try to scam their way to a better life by "misreading" tickets. It is a weak link in the lottery system.  

In Florida we got "Brand New" Lottery Terminals Jan 2005 that have a Flat Panel Screen for the player too see the previous nights winning numbers and other basic game info plus a "Scanner" that lets us check our own tickets.It will say "Ticket is a Winner" or "Ticket is not a Winner", if the ticket is a winner it will say please see clerk for assistance where an actual amount will be given from the Screen that the Clerk sees on the Terminal.A Pick-4, Pick-5, or Pick-6 jackpot will say "must claim prize from area District Offices or Main Office in Tallahassee" 

Now here in Miami I notice that these fancy new terminals require a"Technical Certificate" too operate by watching how difficult it is for some clerks too use compared too the old ones we had before.I've had clerks direct me towards  another one too enter my playslip or say the "Machine is down".And many times had a clerk charge me more than what I marked on my playslip in Cash 3/Play 4 and had too tell them "wheres my change" I marked $.50 not $1.00.It's quite obvious that the FL Lottery Commision did not give much training on these terminals for our store clerks,as is the case for the "Honest Clerk"

You have to admit the public debate/auction on how much of a tip the guy got/should have gotten gives a bit of biofeedback on the frequency people expect to encounter acts involving honesty these days.  It's evidently rare enough to make a $200 tip seem a slap in the face, rare enough to make $2000 a more equitable sum, but still not rare enough to justify taking it away from the person who wasn't able to check her own ticket, and giving it to the clerk for inhaling a breath of the lofty air of honesty.

Seems to me anyone who can't read the numbers and check them against their tickets is putting an unnecessary and burdensome responsibility on guys who didn't know they were signing on for that crap when they came over here from India or some backwater place surrounded by ocean and and who have no real reason to give a hoot whether the ticket they're checking is a winner or a loser.

Jack

I agree -- He probably read up on the swindler store manager from Andover, MA who got caught and then chickened out himself!  People are gullible.

Having worked in convience stores for 10 years and having Lottery machines in those stores the entire time, I will say in the clerk's defense that those machines are sometimes hard as heck to read. They will give some of the most off the wall messages and it is not always possible to get in touch with the folks from the lottery. When I could I would call the 1-800 number which the GA lottery commision gave to all the lottery outlets. But as I said, that wasn't always possible. For my own protection, when I couldn't figure out what the message was trying to say, I would always give the customer back his or her ticket. -Bonnie