my understanding is yes you can't cancel a pb ticket and if all pre-printed tickets are not sold;then the cashier or whoever is working that evening would have to buy those tickets not sold.

the unlucky cashier is crying all the way to the bank 

They apparantly already sought the advice of a finance guy and a lawyer to get their ducks in a row....

Yes, it's a good thing that Mr. Wilson bought those tickets.  The poor cashier, maybe the Wilson's will give him or her a big tip.

This had the potential to turn into a volatile situation between the store owner and the cashier.  Who claims the unsold winning ticket?

I wouldn't think, that any Printed Ticket, could go "un-sold".    Either the store owner, or the cashier, would have to buy those tickets. Are they allowed to "Win"?  I don't know.           And let's say, they are allowed to win?  Mortgage the Store, Print out a Gazzillion Qick-Picks, and hope for the best?  Risky

Printed tickets are not "unsold".  If the store prints a ticket and then does not sell it or cancel it prior to the drawing, the store pays for the cost of the ticket, less their commission.

The way most state lotteries operate is that the store maintains a bank account that the lottery can directly withdraw from (usually nightly), and the store maintains enough money in the account to reconcile their ticket sales. 

I guess unsold is a confusing term.  Perhaps "unbought" is better?  Of course the ticket is valid since it was printed, but can you imagine a clerk and a store owner arguing over a winning ticket that no one bought?

That's so awesome!  Good for them!  I'm sure their sons who lost their jobs are greatful.

I see what you're getting at,  Let's say the store owner and the clerk settled their dispute, Are either one of them allowed to "Win"?  Kinda tricky.    And if the answer is No,  They would almost have to "give" ala "sell" the ticket to,  mabey Grandpa, who just so happened to pop in at the store, exactly on the dot, 1 hour before the drawing.  Don't get me wrong......I'm very One Million times Happy for them.  Just kinda makes you wonder if something funny happened.     I can't say exactly what I'd do if I worked at a store and after the drawing........Well, you know the rest.

Why would there be an argument between a store owner and a clerk that works for him.  Everything in the store that's paid for by the store owner belongs to him until it's sold to a customer.  That's as foolish as a store clerk thinking he owns a piece of the winning tickets he sells or the rewards the store gets for him selling them.  Working in a store doesn't make a clerk part-owner.

Congrats! I bet their sons are more excited than they are, not to mention any grandchildren. This is proof that you don't need to buy a lot of tickets in order to win, because usually, only one does. If it's meant to be, it will be.

I live in NY, but I play powerball in CT, and nearly everytime I've played, I've bought pre-printed tickets.

"Jim Wison has the option of receiving the $254 million in 30 payments over 29 years, or..."

LOL! I don't see that happening. Unless he plans on going until 113.

I was thinking that the store clerk might realize that the ticket is a winner and lay sole claim to it, without telling the manager.

That is correct, you cant cancel them in & S.C. but i remember when S.C. first started selling PB, I would go in stores & hear people just ask for PB, Q-pixs & think they were automatically getting the Power Play option w/o asking for it. I also saw alot of them stick the store with the tix. too, because they did'nt know the difference between the actual game "Powerball" & "Powerplay"  TRUE STORY-- I was in a store & a man asked for $10 in QP & the lady printed them for him & he asked why it did'nt say powerplay on it? She told him that powerplay was an additional $1 per each play, thus the same ticket would've been $20. He told her to do whatever with the original $10 worth he'd bought & give him $10 worth QP's with the powerplay,...lol.  This is really what the lady told him... she said " you give me the $10 you alreday owe me for the first tix. or i'll shoot you before you get out the door"  I guess she had seen more confused new players than she wanted to that day.  I bought me $10 worth with the powerplay, & made sure she understood what i wanted & i have never bought another ticket of any kind from that store..lol.

Chances are the clerk wouldn't know the ticket was a winner until after the drawing and the cost of the ticket had been charged to the store.  At that point it belongs to the store unless the clerk put the cost of the ticket into the cash register and recorded it as a purchase.