Man thought he scratched a $1,000 prize, really won $100,000

Jan 8, 2014, 8:42 pm (27 comments)

Oregon Lottery

WINCHESTER BAY, Ore. — David Lane thought he'd won $1,000 with an Oregon Lottery Cash Flurries Scratch-it ticket.

He filled out his claim form and mailed the ticket off to Lottery headquarters in Salem.

Then the call came from a Lottery employee: Lane had incorrectly filled out the form.

"When I got David on the phone, I told him he had put the wrong dollar amount on his claim form," said Brandon Grover, a Lottery Security Specialist.

That disappointed Lane, who said he had a friend look over the ticket to confirm it was a $1,000 winner before sending the ticket to the Lottery.

"When the Lottery called me and told me I had put the wrong dollar amount on the form, I thought 'oh no,' " he said.

When Lane's ticket and claim form arrived in Salem, lottery staff noticed Lane had scratched 24 of the game's 25 snowflake symbols.

He had won $1,000.

But if you scratched the 25th snowflake — well, that's why Grover called.

"The phone went silent for a few seconds before he came back on and thanked me for calling," Grover with the Lottery said.

"They told me I that I had really won $100,000, not $1,000!" Lane said. "I couldn't believe it!"

His new advice for Scratch-It ticket players: "Scratch everything on the ticket."

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Thanks to tony869 for the tip.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Congratulation Mr. Lane Thumbs Up

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Awesome story Congrats Mr,David LaneParty

Always good idea to mail tickets inI Agree!

CLETU$

Congrats Mr.Lane!

RankineerSue's avatarRankineerSue

Now that's a mistake that didn't cost a fortune!

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

That guy was double lucky.

First, he won $100,000.

And second, he was dumb enough to trust the post office not to steal or lose the ticket and they didn't!

Now that's what you call good luck!

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Those symbol tickets can be annoying and i bet a bunch are thrown out.

JezzVim

He should read the book on instant tickets for Dummies?

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Thumbs Up Congrats Mr Lane

Candlelight777's avatarCandlelight777

Congrats to Mr. Lane Thumbs Up

sully16's avatarsully16

Nice job Mr. Lane, CongratsCheers

LottoGuyBC's avatarLottoGuyBC

$100K Hurray!

Shelby Mustang

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Jan 9, 2014

That guy was double lucky.

First, he won $100,000.

And second, he was dumb enough to trust the post office not to steal or lose the ticket and they didn't!

Now that's what you call good luck!

Im serious. I'd never ever mail a winning lottery ticket. It it has to be claimed at headquarters I'll kindly go pick it up myself thank you very much

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by Shelby Mustang on Jan 9, 2014

Im serious. I'd never ever mail a winning lottery ticket. It it has to be claimed at headquarters I'll kindly go pick it up myself thank you very much

I Agree!

Ya gotta be some kinda goof to mail in a valuable ticket.

Post Office employees lose even more mail than they steal.

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Jan 9, 2014

I Agree!

Ya gotta be some kinda goof to mail in a valuable ticket.

Post Office employees lose even more mail than they steal.

I doubly agree. I Agree! Party

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