People are so dumb.  If you can't see for yourself if they are winners why are you playing?  There are many ways to check tickets besides handing them over to someone else to check them.  Check online, call the toll free number, ask for a numbers report at the retailer.  When will people learn?

Brad

I agree.  Why trust people making minimum wage with the responsiblity of checking tickets that could easily be worth thousands of dollars.  This has happened too many times to be an accident.  Some of this can be blamed on laziness on the part of the player.  Much like leaving a gold bar in your car for all to see while you in shopping at Walmart.

Orangeman                                 

I wonder if the authorities ever do sting operations on the stores, taking a winner or two in and having it checked.  Wouldn't surprise me.

The US Fish and Game folks did something of that sort in southern Colorado a few years ago.  Opened a taxidermy shop, put the word out they'd pay big bucks for endangered critters..... a year or two later handed down a couple of hundred indictments for half the town population for answering the call.

Lovely.

Jack

i agree to checking ones own tickets, but so many times i have missread the numbers and the checker has told me of winners. now i check them with the automatic checker so the clerk could not take advantage

I have to idea of how the rest of the states work, but in NJ there is a law that requires the dealer to post a copy of all winning numbers "close" the the machine. You can read them yourself. Or if you can't read, dial the telephone number advertised all over the state. NJ is also one of the states that tell you which dealer had the winning numbers. They can't hide. 'Course, it is possible you're too dumb to know where you bought the ticket. Personally, I write down the name of the store I bought the ticket in.

'Course, it is possible you're too dumb to know where you bought the ticket.

Yup.  That's entirely possible.  There's a rising population of people who have a lot of difficulties remembering to zip up their pants when they go out in public.  Those same people might well be too absent minded to remember where they bought a ticket.  Or, as you say, too stupid.

I understand Alzheimer's Disease is increasing every year, that the mean age of people afflicted is on a downward spiral.  There's some theorizing that it's actually Mad Cow disease, but that it's being mis-diagnosed because there's no autopsy on most Alzheimer's cadavers.

So, Chewie, the time might actually come when there are a lot of people too 'stupid' to know where they bought their tickets.  Particularly people who eat a lot of meat in their diets.

Jack

"Why trust people making minimum wage with the responsibility of checking tickets that could easily be worth thousands of dollars?"

What does making minimum wage have anything to do with it?  Are you suggesting that those individuals earning minimum wage are more likely to steal money? Granted, the idea of working in retail alone speaks volumes of how far one will go to earn a buck.  In the same breath, not everyone earning minimum wage is in dire need of money.  White collar workers are often those who are found immoral and guilty of illegal acts, (ie corporate scandals, Martha Stewart).

As an in-store employee for 7-Eleven (which pays above minimum wage), I find this particularly insulting.  Most college students, like myself, work in retail.  You claim to work at a university so this isn't new to you. Obviously, cash is constantly being exchanged in a retail setting. Therefore, a high standard of integrity and honesty is expected from all retail employees. 

Think about that the next time you walk into a 7-Eleven to buy your Mega Millions ticket!

Thats why I write the name on the ticket Jack - never know when I am going to have a senior moment.

Money,

Unfortunately Delia Kerr, the crooked clerk made the news, the honest ones didn't and as Orangeman said, she was not the first.  I think about that every time I buy a lottery ticket.

RJOh

SO SAD to see..............you can't trust your local yookle........LOTTO HOLE!!!

Most people who shop in the retail stores......................TRUST that they can

buy...............an honest and good product........................fit for consumption,

otherwise,...why do you TRUST the local bank you put your money intooooo?

The money you spend everyday.......is in "WHO DO YOU TRUST"????????????

Yes, it is written on every bill I spend......take one out and read.............IT!!!

POINT........if you need one.................PEOPLE who buy LOTTO and LOTTERY

tickets are good and trustwort...............................................hey......PEOPLE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

PSYKOMO

Money is Freedom:

Your name says it all . . .

How free do you feel?

Your reply says more about you than it does about me.  I stand by my remarks. 

Orangeman                                                   

too dumb to remember where i bought the ticket.

i frequently buy tickets as a spur of the moment when going to different stores,  i may have an premonition that this is the place to purchase a winner. so it is possible for me to have tickets from several locations for one draw and i do not write down the tickect or the location of purchase.

if you have to have a ticket to claim a winner then what is the point of knowing where it was purchased because it is printed on the ticket and if you do not have the ticket then you cannot collect anyway

If I were a going nowhere in life clerk and saw a chance to get the good life by getting away with swiping one little piece of paper, the temptation would be really on to do it.  Money is definitely freedom. I don't know how lotteries can avoid this scenario happening again and again. Sign your tickets.

I think I might understand your post better if you'd define the distinction between a 'going nowhere in life' clerk, and one  who's going somewhere in life.  Or between a 'going nowhere in life clerk', and a going somewhere in life someone of any stripe.

"Money is definitely freedom." is your next sentence.  Are you drawing the line between going nowhere in life and going somewhere in life as a particular number of dollars in the paycheck or wallet?

Interesting.  I'd like to hear more.

Jack