Florida Lottery will not honor misprint scratch-off jackpot

Jul 29, 2005, 11:03 pm (28 comments)

Florida Lottery

She thought she won $250,000 in the lottery, but the lottery said it's not paying. The lottery said what appeared to be a winning ticket was a misprint.

Tina Coley buys her scratch off tickets at the same store every week. She said she almost had a heart attack when she matched a number for a quarter of a million dollars. But the Florida Lottery said the ticket is a misprint and Coley's only entitled to $20.

Coley and her family raise German Shepherds. They have enough puppies to keep them smiling, despite a weeks-long roller coaster ride.

Coley bought a ticket at the Sunoco Food Mart just outside Oviedo and scratched it at a stoplight.

"I'm sitting at the light and I scratched the ticket and realize that the two matched the two on the ticket and it was worth $250,000. My hands started shaking. I couldn't drive. The people behind me were tooting their horns," Coley explained.

Right away, she drove to the lottery office in Casselberry, where they copied the ticket and sent the original to Tallahassee. Two weeks later, a lottery official called to say the ticket was a pretty big mistake.

"They said it's a misprint. They misprinted the ticket and they say it's not their responsibility to pay me any of the money," Coley said.

In fact, they put it in writing with a letter to Coley saying, "There is a printing defect which could make the 22 appear as a 2." They said, no dice, and offered her $300-worth of lottery tickets for her trouble.

"Whether they misprinted it or correctly printed it, it's not my fault that they didn't print the ticket properly and, as far as I was concerned, I won $250,000.

Friday, the Lottery issued a statement saying they print 500-million tickets a year and that "the very nature of any mechanical printing process can never guarantee 100% accuracy."

They said, under the number two, a partial printing of an abbreviation for 22 appears, so the lottery decided the mistake should play out in their own favor.

"I think God has a really strange sense of humor, to give you $250,000 and take it away in the next breath," Coley said.

Lottery officials originally told Coley she could have her winning ticket back, but now that they've said 'Sorry, Charlie,' they decided they'd keep the questionable ticket.

WFTV

Comments

JimmySand9

Now that is not like the Florida Lottery.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

amen brother

JimmySand9

I mean, I coudn't see any lottery outside of Indiana doing this, and Florida is the pinnacle of integrity and honesty. For shame.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

your right that does sound like something indiana would pull not florida.

MADDOG10's avatarMADDOG10

They offered her $300.00 worth of scratch offs? to hell you say..!  My next move would be to a good lawyer...!  They say they print 500 million scratch off tickets a year and they can't be held responsible? My arse, they can take your money though can't they, but can't be held liable?  BULL.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

i agree maddog.....florida is going to end up making themselves look like fools to the lottery community.florida has one of the best if not the best lottery in america so i hope they pay up.....

Tnplayer805's avatarTnplayer805

It wouldn't hurt them to pay for the mistacke.  Come on FL lottery.  Do what's right!

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

I Agree!

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Sue them for 1 million. 750,000 pain and suffering and for their arrogance.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

lol,good one...

Chewie

Did the guy from Texas get a job in Florida?

 

win_nie

I agree with all of the comments,thats not her fault they ticket was faulty if she still has the original ticket sue them for her and me because it may happen to me and if they get away doing it to her they may want to try it again.I like my Florida scratch and win so please lottery officials do what is right.

JAP69's avatarJAP69

[They said, under the number two, a partial printing of an abbreviation for 22 appears, so the lottery decided the mistake should play out in their own favor.]

Printing error is a weak statement coming from the lottery. I would want to know what the bar code said for a payout figure.

qutgnt

They said it was a twenty dollar winner. I would guess NO TICKETS out there have two winners on the ticket for 20 bucks and 250000 bucks.  Therefore it probably was really a misprint, but it is absolutely appalling for the lottery to not pay this out, unless they are fearful there are hundreds of others out there. Then they better recall the game. But pay this woman, it is bad enough the lottery is the absolute worst bet in the history of bets.  Now I know why more people go to the casinos.

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