Winner, without scratching?Previous TopicNext Topic

This is in NYC. I was in the store where I buy my scratchoffs. The owner displays some of the winners ($50 or more). I saw someone had hit for $200 on a $5 Monopoly ticket. It's the style where you have to match "your numbers" to the "winning numbers." There are around 12 chances to win, as I recall. Anyway, the winning ticket had a "GO" symbol (instant win for $200). Great! Except, this was the ONLY space scratched in the playing field of the ticket. The other 11 spaces were NOT scratched.

My question is this: how could someone know to scratch only one of the 12 spots? I suppose it's possible he guessed right, scratched a "lucky" (to him) spot and hit a winner. But, even then, wouldn't it make sense to scratch the other spots, to see if there were multiple winners (possible on this type of ticket)? I asked the owner about it and he said something like, you can scratch the bottom of the ticket and, in the area with the serial number, there are "random" letters that "tell the story of the ticket." He also said he has customers that play so many scratchoffs, they can't be bothered scratching the whole thing. They use this "guide" at the bottom to get through it quickly, so they know, 1) if the ticket is a winner, and 2) where the winner is on the ticket.

Cany anyone verify if this sounds legitimate? To be honest, my first thought was that it seemed a little fishy.

Connecticut doesn't do it anymore,but I know in some states that prizes under 75 dollars have 3 letters in varied spots in the scratch field that spell out the winner....for example    if $5  then a "fiv" will be somewhere in the ticket...$25   would be "twf".........one,two and 10 dollars are as they are spelled

And in GA, we have validation letters for winners of $19 or less.  When it's $20 or more or if it's a losing ticket, the letters are random.

I don't think anything is fishy with your story.  I've heard of people doing that with our various Cashword and Bingo tickets in GA.  Personally, I don't like to do that (I like the few seconds of excitement by scratching the whole play area and, if it's a bingo or crossword game, scratch the appropriate letters or numbers).

What JBG said is correct. There are codes for the smaller prizes, but the bigger prizes can give random codes, 3 letters that make no sense at all, to us, the players anyway.

As far as the position on where the winner will be on the card, I have never heard of this. I thought the same as you about the player picking a lucky spot to scratch being the only spot scratched.

As far as not scratching anymore spots, he really wouldn't have to since he won, the machine will tell him the amount won on the ticket when scanned for the payout.

You would have to really trust the retailer to do that though or he may take you for any extra money won on the ticket.

I have seen signs in the stores that say non-scratched tickets will not be cashed here. Why? I have no idea...unless people would try to sell them to other people after finding out they were losers, it would otherwise look intact. But who would actually buy a ticket from a stranger on the street?

i have turned many unscratched tickets in. sometimes if i see i hit for a certain amount in one spot i go ahead and just get it scanned. sometimes i hit a win all symbol and dont scratch the rest. either way when its scanned it will show what was hit any way

Some scratching fanatics like myself hate the "Spoiler letters" found on tickets.  So, like others I know we scratch only the letters under the numbers.  Unless you examine the ticket it will appear as though as the ticket hasn't even been scratched.  To me, it puts the fun back into playing without worrying about seeing the dreaded X spoiler letter.  (Unless you win $6, X usually means you have a loser)

Off topic but still important...  Cashiers always ask me why I don't scratch remaining areas after I win a free ticket.  A lot of people continue scratching the ticket; however, there is NO POINT.  Have you or anyone you know ever won a cash prize and a free ticket on the same ticket???  Just thought I would point it out.