Police: Store clerk conned La. lotto winner out of $800,000Previous TopicNext Topic

yes ....some  clerks  take  the  tickets  and  never  give  them  back  saying  its  a  looser ...then  put  the  tickets  in  a  special  trash  can .

its  amazing  how  many  times  I  told  the  clerk  you  didn't  give  me  back  the  right  ticket !!!  they  take  forever  handing  it  back  to  you;

hoping  you   will  go  away....this  is  very  true in  low  income  neigghborhoods  with  forign  nationals  behind  the  counter!!!

3  months  ago  I  called  the  lottery  police  aka  investagators  about  a  forign  national  clerk  who  kept  a  5.00  straight  pick-4 - ticket  I purchaced ;

I  had  a  sales  summary  to  prove  I  bought  the  ticket  the  code  on  each  ticket  proved  where  I  purchaced  the  numbers   and  she  never  gave  me  that  ticket   but  handed  me  the  rest  all  the  time  smilling  in  my  face ......dont  be  fooled  it  happening  all  over  the  place  and 

when  most  people  are  in  a  rush.....or  at  lunch ;

Even signing your name on it doesn't always work. Let me explain. Today, I went to the local Marathon station to cash in my Mega Millions ticket and collect my $2.00 that I had won. I had signed my ticket.

I handed it to the store clerk who ran it through the terminal. She handed me a slip of paper from the terminal that said, "Ticket was already validated at this terminal." And she did not give me my $2.00. She handed my signed MM ticket back to me and told me to contact the 800 number to the Ohio Lottery.

The store clerks will find a way around scamming you even if you have signed your ticket, as in my case.

- if you won $2 and the clerk said it's already claimed..here is a weird possibility. The tickets have numbers on them. What would happen if a clerk entered (throat clearing sound) the wrong number (saying that the ticket is "blurry" and won't scan in).. and it showed a prize? They don't turn in the small claim tickets, do they? Or maybe the clerk ran it and thought it didn't take, and ran it again somehow... also what if they put the wrong # vs. a winning ticket and it says Already Claimed or No Winner?

- if they won 800K that does NOT sound like a typical scratch-off prize, so I will guess it's a Powerball/PowerPlayX4 prize?

- on the terminals in nj, when they run the ticket it shows up on the little screen "PAY (amount)" or "FILE CLAIM" if it's over $600. I have seem some Stores have the screen ROTATED so that you cannot see it yourself. Those I'd watch out for. If you won a jackpot and they say "Already Claimed" then bring it straight to Lottery HQ.

- the worst trick would be if they keep a few losing tickets handy in case a winner comes in and using sleight of hand they switch in the loser to scan and slip the winner out of sight. Or even just deliberately manually enter the wrong #.

This is why sometimes they (Feds?) look suspiciously at store clerks that "check" way too many tickets. Make sure the clerk scans (not enters by hand) the code and that the payout is visible to you.

You better believe it !   I wonder what kind of game it was....it seems $800K is a lot for a scratch-off, which sometimes CAN be confusing when you try and determine if the scratch-off is a winner.  SO I'm assuming it was an online ticket for a jackpot game.  In either case, why oh why does soemone take an $800K ticket that they think is a winner to a STORE ?  They can't pay off on anything like that ! You take the ticket to the Lottery Headquarters !

I would have been really, really angry is this happened to me. I have had problems with 2 different store clerks at a store I go to. I now watch the store clerks very closely when they handle my winning tickets. You have to be vigilant and watch those store clerks who would steal your fortune away from you.