New York Lottery won't pay $25,000 for taped-up scratch-off ticket

This sounds like a good option to what may have happened and I could believe this. It is obvious to me that it is two completely different tickets. Most of the posts have been about the numbers not matching and one was about the rules being doubled at the tear, but no one has said anything about the line under the box where the winning numbers to match are. That clearly shows that it is 2 different tickets. I just don't understand why they didn't they scan the barcode to see if it was a winner and if they did and it said it was a losing ticket why she didn't believe it. It's not like she is in Indiana or Tennessee, she should be able to trust the computers there to tell her it is a winner or loser. Oh and about the spent money that was foolish. It kind of reminds me of a episode of the tv show "Martin" when he won the lottery and bought a fur coats and a whole bunch of things then later found out that about 10 or more other people also won and his prize wasn't that much. She should be able to get her $3000 for the down payment for the Lexus back if she hasn't got the car yet and the $1000 per grand child was promised so it hasn't been spent. The $700 for lottery was lost and maybe more is the state takes her to court. I'm sure that if they investigate and find that it was a simple mistake as csfb said nothing will happen to her.

csfb writes "I believe the lady's story.  She bought the tickets from a machine and the tickets came out torn."   

You might be correct.  I have no idea if she is telling the truth.  I also agree that her picture shouldn't be in the paper, but perhaps it was she who wanted the publicity, not the lottery.  I'm guessing they want to keep these matters quiet because it hurts business if people lose faith in its integrity.  I usually don't call any person an idiot.  Unfortunately, this is the internet and these stories are published for our opinions.  I don't know the lady, and it's not my place to judge her. However, she only won $25,000 less taxes and went out on a shopping spree. Maybe it was a used Lexus.  My point was, if someone has bills to pay, I can see her running out and taking care of debts, but going out the next day to buy a car, spending another $700, etc., makes her a fool in my humble opinion.  Also, if that happened to me, I'd immediately ask for a store manager to verify the ticket's validity.  I won't accept a badly torn bill from a cashier, especially if it's been taped, but we're all different. 

This situation brings up a potential problematic scenario.  What happens if one of the halves was actually part of a winning ticket and the other half was bought by someone else?  Would the person who erroneously showed up to claim a prize gets the whole prize or would an effort be made to find the owner of the other half and split the prize?

Defintely a fake, she should have noticed, 10 and 40 as the others were saying.  Looks good on her.   Some people still don't triple check their tickets.   I know if I had won, I'd be scratching every latex area, totally making sure it all matched.   I also would have the store validate it first and then take winning prize form to lottery offices.  Save me $700 and the gas ...  

This woman is an idiot. How much did she think she would get after taxes anyway. This is clearly fraud and they should press charges.

The person who had the 1/2 of the ticket with the barcode on it would be proclaimed the winner and paid.The other person might or might not be refunded the price of the ticket.Most states allow the lottery to pay "only the price of the ticket" if there is a dispute.

I've got no problem believing her story (though I then have to assume she's not very bright), but that doesn't mean she's entitled to anything more than a new ticket even if she truly believes she has a winning ticket. She may be missing part of the ticket, but the barcode is enough to determine if it's a winner or not. As far as the other comment about trusting the computers, that's exactly how retailers validate tickets, and the scanner won't know that part of the ticket is missing. I'll note that it's interesting to see nearly universal agreement about the barcode when the ticket is obviously fake, but in cases where a legitimate ticket looks like a winner most people think it should be paid despite a barcode that identifies it as a loser. I'm guessing that's why the lottery has pointed out that the ticket is obviously not real, rather than relying on the barcode.

Even though the barcode cleary shows that it's a losing ticket it would be fair for the lottery to give her another ticket, since it's also an obviously damaged ticket. Even if the machine is known to occasionaly damage a ticket, there's absolutely nothing to indicate that there's any negligence at all, and certainly not gross negligence. Mechancial equipment is never 100% reliable, and it's clear that the lottery's only responsibility is to make sure that the player recieves a valid ticket. If the first one is defective for some reason the only required remedy is to replace it with a good one.

"Manzitto's lawyer, Arnold, doesn't dispute that the colored lines don't match, but argued that that is how the ticket was sold."

Patricia Manzitto and her lawyer know the ticket is not a winning ticket but they are trying to make an argument similar to that of a Florida woman two years ago when she bought a scratch-off on which a number hadn't been completely printed and matched another one on her ticket for $250K. http://www.lotterypost.com/news/117317  Even though the words under the numbers described two different numbers she argued that since her ticket on first glance could be mistaken for a winner, it should be treated as one.

Manzitto's lawyer is arguing that if the two halves sold to her client could be made to look like a winner on first glance then it should be treated as one.  That's a losing argument every time it's made, courts have said that lotteries don't have to reward people who can prove they they really thought they won when they really didn't even if it's not their fault.

I doubt the part of the story about the MACHINE tearing the ticket because if she bought $6 so 3 tkts came out, in order to have mismatching halves from 2 different tickets then at least 2 came out torn. Not sure how that would happen but maybe it could. It's also possible to pull it sideways when it is sticking 1/2 out. IN general I avoid those dispensers because the tickets are sometimes older ones where the top prizes might have been won already. I'd have gone to a manager immediately and showed thm. It's odd that she took the torn ticket(s) home and THEN checked? And yes the barcode is the final say in any case. Some places have a self-serve kiosk where you can scan them yourself.

We are assuming (people in NY would know) do the tickets come out vertical or horizontal? What happens IF the ticket is torn through the barcode?

Thank-you  for  saying  this  about  that  lady  ...we  are  Professional  players  and  she  is  nott  as  well  informed  as  we  are  here   on  LP  ;

Codes  , were  never  a  consideration  for  this  grandmother, who  promised  her  grandkids  a  1000 ea.  that  does  not  sound  like  a  liar  to  me .....she  will  be   better   and  more  informed  player  after  this  and  her  case  wont  go   un-noticed :

HER  FIRST  THOUGHT  WAS  TO  TRUST  THE  SYSTEM  ,JUST  LIKE  MILLIONS  OF  PEOPLE  WHO   TRUSTED  THE  911  COMMISSION ,ONLY  TO  FIND  OUT  LATTER  THE  FACTS  JUST   DON'T   ADD  UP ;

BEING  doubtfull  is  healthy medicine ;  She  failed  to  first  double  check  her  evidence that  being, the  25,000.00  ticket  just  in  case  the  ripped  ticket  was  not  accepted;