I agree.  If she was told not to come back, she must have gotten very excited and yelled at the manager.  I've been in a lot of Publix supermarkets and they are always polite, even when customers are not.

Hire an attorney for an $800 prize?  Are you joking?  The average cost for an attorney is $200 to $300 an hour!

This is bad news indeed. Let this unfortunate event taught everyone else its lesson...we can only hope. 

She should have known better! I hate when people play and don't even check their tickets or are careless with the tickets. I hate when people play and don't bother finding out what the basic rules are in the game. I can't tell you how many "scratch-offs" I've found in the garbage can inside the lottery store that where winners ($2-$10). For heavensakes, take some responsibiltiy and use some common sense if you are going to play.

Some people should never play the lottery and this woman is the head of the class..

Small Claims Court.

Something doesn't jive here. 

" She bought them earlier in the week and didn't even pay attention to what the numbers were. "

Then it says

Annie's son called to share the good news. "My son had called me and told me, 'Mom, you know that 3131 came', and I said, 'Uh uh, you joking'. He said, 'Yes it did, I'm looking at the print out right now,'" Annie said.

Did she call her son or did he call her?  If she didn't know what numbers she played, how would her son know she won?  Maybe it's just the way the article is written.

Anyway, I agree with Duckman.   If a ticket is validated but there is no payout, the Lottery should pay the bearer of the receipt and the continuation ticket if nobody else comes forward. 

Isn't a continuation ticket issued when you purchase advance plays and want to claim a prize?  I would have just waited. 

It's a poorly written story.......just cause it's in print it's just a poorly written story that is printed.....It does not flow.  I agree with justxploring................I have a copy machine it's a HP Deskjet F335......and when my ticket wins.....I make a copy of it..............winning .50 cents to 400 dollars........."Just in case" something "happens" to my ticket..........they are good people where I get my ticket......sometimes they don't have enough money........then I have to go to the "chain" grocery store.............to get the cash!

Here in NSW, players can register if they wish. If registered, prizes are mailed to winners. For large prizes, they call you with the good news, and arrange for you to come to a lottery office to collect. US state lotteries should give players the same option.

I'd be upset after winning $800 then forgetting to pick up the ticket after being scanned by the store guy.  Maybe she's not as broke as I am.

Young clerk?? The article says nothing of the clerk's age, for all we know they could have been someone your age, whatever age that might be, maybe older.

Anyway, she should have made sure right there she had everything, I'm sure the Publix has cameras set on the area so it'd be easy to tell, hope the manager enjoys the bad publicity from at least what was said in the story. Oh and I'd guess that her son knew the numbers that she routinely played since the article makes mention of her "ritual" of playing certain numbers.

A "continuation ticket" is a ticket which is issued when a person purchases a ticket for several draws in advance, and wins a prize before the entire draw range is completed, the lottery machine issues a ticket for the remainder of the time the ticket is valid.

I am sure that ticket wasn't thrown away and has already been cashed.

Let's not blame the victim.  Many people would not realize they need to keep the original ticket if given a receipt.  However, if she was a regular lottery player and knew she won over $600, why in the world did sheLclaim it at a supermarket?  In Florida you can't collect over $599 without going to a Florida Lottery office and the rules are very clear about that. 

As I wrote earlier, this story is very confusing.  Don't you get a receipt when you collect the money?  I've cashed in a small win for $100 and handed a receipt when the clerk paid me.  Why else would you get a receipt?  Please explain this to me.   To me the word receipt means that you got something.  If it's for the winning ticket, then it makes no sense that the Florida Lottery won't honor it without the original ticket.

I just saw on the news that Publix gave the woman the $800.00. GO FIGURE!!!!!! The lady looks like she was in her late 50 or early 60. I don't like the manager telling her not to come back there. It's just poor training on the part of the employee. For the store manager  to be demeaning to this woman, leaves an eye brow up for me!!! Everything is  on camera these DAYS.,they could easily match the  tickect  stamp time  and the employee to see what happen. A nasty store manager  and a poorly train employee!!!!! The Manager could have handle it much better then he did! ,If the lady 's family didn't go to the media ,she would just  have been S@@@ out of luck.