Undercover lottery investigation tests store clerks' honesty

I recently went into the store where I purchase my tickets and scanned my ticket at the ticket scanner to find out that I won $7.

Here in PA we can scan our own tickets!

Don't the stores have the machines that play a certain tone whether the ticket is a winner or a loser, or is that not for scratch-offs? Just stay there at the register whenever you have them check it and problem solved.

If it's a number draw ticket then most places should have slips of paper with the winning numbers printed out (or you can ask for one) that you can check against your numbers (if you don't have internet, of course, otherwise there are numerous ways of checking).

Nobody should put blind faith into store clerks when anywhere from hundreds to thousands to millions are at stake. I don't care who the clerk is, I'm not going to trust them with that kind of money. Will I let them verify the ticket? Of course, but only after I've checked to see that it is indeed a winner and I'm staying up at the desk. I'm not going to give them a ticket without already knowing it's a winner (of any amount). If it's a jackpot winner I would definitely have either my name signed or whatever trust info is needed on there. You can never be too careful when dealing with millions.

New York's Lottery guy seemed pretty shady. Sending out alerts and not wanting people who previously conned people out of a winning ticket to get caught. Sounds to me like he just wants more places to keep selling tickets. He said last year 9 places lost their license to sell. How long did their investigation in CA last, they had about that many over there in what seemed like a few months (max). And I wonder what the people's first thoughts were when they saw Chris Hansen coming up to them with cameras.

Remember this was a "Sting" Operation.

I agree with Tiggs on the issue if you don't know you got a winner you should not be playing!

Personally i check all my tickets here on Lottery Post. Then i go to the store and tell the clerk how much i have won. Then i also ask them for the "Players Copy" of the pay-out.

If i'm cashing in a "Scratch-off i do the same. Even if it's a loser i ask for my losing ticket back & the slip that shows it's "not a winner."

"So easy a cave man can do it."

Cutla$$Bob

Very smart Bob..You could make money teaching people how to read  numbers..

wow. i check all my own tickets on line. i should sign them but they don't leave the house until i check them.

A brain. Don't leave home without it.

I watched this segment on Dateline, and I was surprised they didn't mention the store clerks (and even some managers!...)  scratching-off tickets they don't buy until a winning ticket is scratched that will pay for the non-winners, and they pocket the difference. This is one problem among many I have with playing scratcher games. Other irritating aspects of this type of gaming include store clerks not refilling the machines, tickets displayed on the machine that are different than the tickets dispensed, "Double", or even "Triple" binning of scratchers, stores--especially the "convenience" variety--that won't pay large prize amounts (They'll claim they're preventing a robbery), tickets that have hardened surfaces that can't be scratched off,  indistinguishable symbols/numbers in the playing field,  kids walking up and punching the buttons on the machine after my money is accepted (It REALLY HAPPENED!!), 'mentally-challenged' people who spend 20 minutes reading tea leaves to determine what ticket to select (they never seem to notice the line of people waiting behind them), and lastly, complex games that you spend 30 minutes scratching and analyzing, then finding out you haven't won anything. All-in-all, scratchers are a frustrating way to try and win money from the state.

Ronald Reagan once said " Trust but verify ".

"reading tea leaves to determine what ticket to select" LMAO.

I've been behind some that took so long they could have built a sweat lodge and hung from hooks through their chests in a Vision Quest.

That was dam good advice too, larry.

dpoly1,

Some of those stores in the report had those scanners, too, people could see them if you they what you were looking at.

Sometimes the ones the public can use don't work or are shut off, but when they're not, you do have to wonder why people ask the clerks to scan their tickets. Maybe they just want attention or a conversation.

Maybe we should do a Ten Commandments of Lotto thread:

1. Thou shalt always check your own tickets.

I agree, come to Michigan.

I wasn't going to weigh in on this article because I didnt think I could add anything that hasn't already been said by others.

After watching the video's I'd like to add something that I'm aware of.  I live in New York State. While they dont confiscate past due parking tickets from lottery winnings, The State of New York will definitely  confiscate any child support or NY state income taxes in arrears.  I'm aware of those two things, but there could be more that I'm not aware of.  Prior to cutting the check, The Lottery will run the winners social security number thru a database.  If there is a hit, and you owe money to the state, or your Ex for child support, it will be as the state calls it, "diverted" from your winnings.  If you owe more than what you won, you will receive nothing.

There is a legendary story in New York (I have no idea if it is true or not) about two guys (they're siblings) who always played the same set of Win4 numbers on the same day.  Apparently they each played the same set of numbers every day.  The numbers hit, and they won a combined total of $20,000.

In attempt to avoid income taxes, they arranged for a brother in law who was a dead beat dad, to claim the winnings for them. The way I heard the story was they agreed to give him $500 cash to claim the winnings for them. (He'd have to pay income taxes on that 20G's, so why he'd agree to do it is a mystery to me)

When the dead beat brother in law claimed the tickets, his past due child suport was confiscated and sent to his ex-wife.

"Shady appearing Gordon Medenica indicates that when lottery retailer ticket clerks/owners are given winning tickets by someone who didn't actually buy the ticket that the situation is magically transmuted to "entrapment""

That's the part that's really screwed up. Motives aside, sending out the warning should have a deterent effect by letting clerks know that the person they're trying to steal a ticket from may be a reporter who's filming them. Describing it as entrapment, OTOH, is incredibly stupid. Since the Dateline investigation was done privately and didn't have the cooperation of the lottery they had to use a real winning ticket, which they presumably got by buying all 1000 numbers for the pick 3. The ticket was only worth $500, which isn't much for tricking otherwise honest clerks into  stealing. They may have been monitoring the results, but they were basicaly doing exactly what many players do: taking their tickets to the store and trusting the clerk to check them honestly.

These types of investigations should be done more frequently, imo.  I work in a convenience store, our lottery machine is situated to face the customers, the screen can be seen by them.  Also, when any ticket gets validated as a winner, the machine makes a sound depending on the type of winner, which can be heard clear to the back of the store.  As a rule (for myself at least), I always hand back any losing tickets to the customer....specifically because of this type of situation.  If the customer then asks me to throw them away, I rip them up before they hit the trash.  I don't understand why these clerks would do this....and think they could get away with it.  They will eventually be caught, and imo it's not worth losing my job (even if it is a min. wage job), going to jail, paying fines..etc.  Once convicted as a thief, they will have a hard time finding a job. 

I agree with many of the posters here...If you don't know how to play..then don't. Don't take up 20 min. of my time asking me how to play when there are customers behind you....especially when scratch tickets have clear instructions on how to play and win.  Details are on the front and back of each scratch ticket. How hard is it? "Scratch the play area, if you get 3 like symbols, amts, etc in a row,  you win prize shown. If you find said symbol, you get double the prize shown" Duh!  And the instructions are on the back of every Powerball play slip and actual ticket.  Please Read!  Check your tickets before you enter the store, so that you know if you have winners or not.  While I try to be fair to all of my customers and give them the time they deserve, it does get annoying when someone brings in a month's worth of saved up tickets (which they don't even know if they are winners or not), and asks me to check them all when I've got a line of customers backing up. It's not fair to those other customers to have to wait for me to scan tickets when the majority of them are losing tickets.  Especially with scratch tickets, check to be sure they are winners because in our state, the lottery machine will lock us out if we scan too many non-winning scratch tickets in a row.

As other people have said here, don't trust any clerk with your tickets. Know what you have before you enter the store, stay at the counter while the clerk is validating your tickets.  Stores are only allowed to pay out up to a certain amount, as per the Lottery commission in each state, which normally the max amount is like $500.  Anything over that has to be paid out by the Lottery Commission.  Just be alert when cashing in, don't just blindly hand a clerk your tickets.