Lottery player says scanner not accurate

A little different twist to talking about ticket scanners ... so far in PA all the tickets that I have scanned have been accurate, since I usually check them online first. I don't trust scanners 100% since I remember reading a news story here at Lottery Post ... maybe two years back about someone from South Africa having a winning ticket that the scanner said was not a winner.

Anyway, I have a somewhat interesting story dealing with the PA State lottery. This happened about 2 1/2 years ago ... this is a true story but no one was interested in what actually happened ... not even the PA State Lottery. I had a Mega Millions play slip filled out with a set of numbers I wanted to play, so I went to the store to play the numbers ... it was a Friday afternoon and I handed the play slip to the clerk and got my ticket and walked away ... got about 20 feet out of the store and I noticed the numbers that were printed on the Mega Millions ticket were not the numbers that I had marked on the play slip. I looked at it for awhile longer and then noticed that all the numbers on the actual ticket were one number off the numbers on the play slip ... in otherwards ... if I had 6 marked on the play slip, the ticket had a 7 printed ... 14 was a 15 and so forth .... all 5 numbers on the play slip were one number higher on the ticket ... if I remember, the Mega Ball number was the same, just the five regular numbers were different. I went back into the store to show the clerk but because I had walked away, she didn't seem too interested or even like she believed anything I was saying. They have a sign there to "check your tickets at the time of purchase" but I had walked away. I was just trying to show her how the numbers were all one number off from the slip that I had given her a few minutes before ... she was busy with other customers also ... so I just left. About an hour later I decided to call the PA Lottery main office, I thought they might be interested in hearing about this, if there could be a problem with the computers and lottery terminals ... I got a person that had no interest what so ever ... three times she asked me to explain exactly what had happened ... like it went in one ear and two seconds out the other ear ... so finally in discust, I asked to talk to a higher level person ... talked with that person for a few minutes and I could tell they also had no interest in my story ... had the feeling they weren't buying anything I was saying ... so I hung up and just wrote the whole thing off.

This is a true story ... it really did happen, no way I could prove it but I know what happened that one Friday afternoon in PA ... so just give any "special" tickets a quick look to see if they are the numbers you actually wanted to play. Those numbers didn't win anything and neither would the actual numbers on the play slip ... all duds. Also, this has never happened again ... all tickets match the play slip when I go that route.

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When the ga lottery started putting bar code on their scratch off tickets I took a winner to publix to cash and the clerk said this is not a winner, but i knew it was I made him check it again and it was.  People should know what their tickets are worth before they try to cash them

I have had to remind myself on occasion that it's illegal to wring out a clerk's neck like a wet Sham-Wow.

This incident happen to my husband about 6 mths ago he scan on the machine and said he was not a winner , so he gave it to the clerk to check and the same ticket he had won about $5.50 . From that time to now he never trust the scanner machine. So I imagine lots of people have gotten false information since then.

Probably a good thing we don't have scanners here cuz when machines rip me off I smash 'em.

The FL. Lottery will never to admit to any glitches or wrongdoing, but Campisi isn't the first or last player to encounter a faulty scanner. It happened to me in South Florida years ago, and when I wrote them about it they assured me it was my mistake.

Never trust a clerk or a scanner; check your tix yourself!

It's hard enough picking the right numbers, now you gotta worry about a #@!&* machine screwing you over as well!!

Fortunately my state has an excellent way around this scanner problem. It has a club where you can enter your losing tickets and instant tickets for points, drawings etc. If your ticket is a winner it won't let you enter it and will alert you, virtually eliminating the chances of you making a mistake like this. I have not used a scanner in almost a year and don't forsee that I ever will again. 

The same happened to me. I had checked before and knew that I won something. I asked to check the ticket again and it paid.

Is it the machine or the clerk?

I think that this happens alot.

I only play Powerball and Mega Millions.I always check my tickets online at Lottery Post.com.I've never had a problem...NEVER.Thanks Todd!

Your last sentence is exactly what I'm getting at. If you're fortunate enough to "unknowingly and FINALLY" get the right numbers after all this time, at least do yourself the justice of "self-checking" against a hard printout of official current winning numbers. The printout won't lie like the scanner or clerk will. Good post.

L.L.

I feel so sad about what happened to Mr. Campisi.  It's the technology that must be blame.  I guess, he really missed lots of winnings.  Floridal lottery should make a move and do something about this.  They sould be vigilant too in making sure that every lottery terminal, scanner or computer should be in good condition.

Put linux on it instead,  that crook bill gates doesn't deserve more money,  then again,  it being run on a windows operating system,  is more then likely a cause of the problems.

And this is why I would always check and double check my numbers myself. I don't want scanner error on top of the possibility of being scammed by a clerk. I never hand a clerk my ticket unless I know for sure it's worth X amount.

I guess this would explain why millions go unclaimed every year.  We have seen these stories posted here at Lottery Post time and time again.  I have always checked my own tickets.  In the rare "instant" I buy a rip off, I scratch it completely to see that I lost, which is usually the case.  Screw the scanners, screw the clerks, check your own tickets and you'll know whether you won or not.  Always good luck to everyone here at Lottery Post.

I think Mr. Creepy scanned his losing ticket twice by mistake and blamed the good scanner.