This is why they make wallets,purses and safety deposit boxes.

I am guessing the part that is missing piece contain the bar code/serial code of the ticket? If the code is there within what's left of the ticket, I don't see why he can't get his money.

It sounds like they dont want to pay him... cheap <snip>s :D

I bet there are many people who claim to have washed their "winning" lottery tickets. People need to keep them in safe spots and not just stuff them in their pockets.

I agree,
All tickets say "Do not deface."  To me that would include a few spins around the rinse cycle. There are  those that would conterfeit tickets or try something else underhanded.  I actually agree with the officials on this one.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>BUTT?

what would CUBA<DO???

LOL

PSYKOMO

Wow, that winning lotto ticket in the washer machine scenario really happens!

Shame on the Costa Rica Lottery and Court.

In my opinion the lottery owes all players a good faith attempt to verify claims of potential winners. 

The lottery knows exactly how many jackpots, 1st, 2nd, 3rd place prizes it should pay out.   They can wait until the redeem date had passed and see how many of the questioned prizes remain unclaimed.

Of couse this requires a good faith attempt on the customer's part to bring their claim to the lottery right away, not wait until there are only a few days left and the lottery has already announced a plum prize is still hanging out there unclaimed.

A little common sense goes a long way.

BobP

That does it. I will not travel to Costa Rica to play the lottery!

It's his own fault. Vital information will have been washed away from the ticket so the ticket was probably badly defaced.

Next time, do as I do and buy online lol. Feel sorry for him but he should have been more careful.

The problem is anyone can that they lost the ticket in the wash. Who do you believe? 

Exactly, Anyone can claim they washed their ticket in the washing machine and apparently, quite a few have made that claim. Can it happen? Sure. I believe some people are telling the truth, but if one wants to avoid losing out on a lot of money, people need to start taking better care of their tickets. Don't just shove your tickets in your pockets or whatever. Put them in a safe place. You never know when one of those slips of paper will be worth thousands or millions of dollars. Treat your tickets like they could be worth millions. It's not that hard.

The article doesn't even come close to offering enough information to suggest that it would have been reasonable to pay  the claim. OTOH, it does include two statements indicating that at least part of the ticket is either missing completely, or at least illegible. Knowing that a winning ticket was sold but unclaimed supports the claim, but does absolutely nothing to prove it.

I've washed two winning scratchers before by mistake. Best believe that if I knew they were winners they would have never made it to the washer though!!!!