A Florida couple says they have a winning lottery ticket and they want their money, but the the Florida Lottery Commission isn't paying.
Ocala resident Joe Curcio thought he hit the jackpot on a scratch-off ticket that shows a prize of $500,000.
When he tried to claim his prize he received nothing at the lottery office.
Curcio said he bought a legitimate lottery ticket at the Turnpike rest area at Fort Drum.
The state said the ticket had a misprint on it.
Curcio and his family said it's not their fault the ticket has a misprint and that he should be paid what he's owed.
"A deal's a deal," Curcio said.
"I believe there's something wrong with the lottery," Annemarie Curcio said.
The lottery said it prints about 550 million tickets per year and there is the possibility of a misprint.
There are manual, computer and visual checks of tickets submitted for prizes, and the lottery said it uses various layers of security.
It also reminds people that the ticket is printed with a warning that all winnings are subject to verification.
Just my opinion here, but if I were to draw up a legal contract and it had a misprint on it, I would still be liable for that contract. I don't see any difference here. They should pay for their misprint mistakes and work harder to make sure there aren't anymore. That is, if in fact, it was their fault.
A mighty big disappointment: maybe they still have some recourse.
A Florida newspaper wrote:
Annemarie Curcio said they were robbed.
"My husband gave them a real $20 bill and they gave him a fake ticket," she said.
I agree with the above comments, and if the mistake isn't obvious, I think they should pay. However, there is a disclaimer stating the Lottery isn't responsible for misprints. Now this is where a boycott would really help!! We need gasoline, but everyone in FL could stop buying scratch tickets for a month and write letters protesting the decision. I read another article in that describes the so-called error, and I still can't figure it out. At least these people aren't poor (not that it should matter) but imagine if someone quit his $7 an hour job and drove to Tallahassee, only to discover his winning ticket isn't valid. So here's a lesson...wait until you have the money in your hand first!
I'd like to see a close-up of the ticket. Otherwise, it's difficult to make a judgment. I doubt if this couple would have made the trip to Tallahassee if it didn't look like a legitimate winner.
That's one of the reasons I don't like scratch-offs with large prizes. The state contrives what they think is a fair distribution of winners and where they should come from and if you don't buy your ticket there then you are a loser. Players have the illusion that every ticket could be a winner similar to the tickets of lotteries with drawings. The state probably never planned on anyone turning in a ticket bought at the Turnpike rest area.
Here is a video showing what they consider to be an error. Apparently they did match the numbers, but the 2 letters underneath did not match. Click on "watch video" to view. (don't know if dial-up will work)
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=67738
What a riot! After the news video about this "mishap" there is an ad for a law office.
I have a question for people who buy scratch tickets. The numbers matched and it clearly shows that $500,000 was won. But underneath the first "1" there are 2 letters "th" which stand for thirteen. Is this supposed to be scratched off and removed by the player? If I paid $20 for a scratch ticket and it read "match 2 numbers and win the prize shows" and I matched 2 numbers and saw $500,000 under one of them, I would assume I won too.
I still think they should pay.
If I sound as if I was disagreeing with you, Spy, I wasn't. I only mentioned the disclaimer because it gives them an "out" if they find a problem with the ticket. If I drove to Tallahassee and was told I couldn't collect, I'd be on every local channel and screaming about it. It's interesting that they would prefer all this negative publicity instead of just paying. Obviously, they aren't worried about the effects of this article. BTW, I am almost certain this has happened in FL before. (I'm still wondering if, when you scratch the number, if the letters that represent it show, although most people wouldn't think about it. I might wonder why "th" was under the number "1" (or not!)
i think the florida lotto should pay them because the florida lotto made the misprint and mistake.
Why don't you just click the video link at the bottom of the post? It shows the video without all the ads.
The reason they put "one" underneath the number 1 and "th" underneath the number 13 is because people could either scratch off the 3 and make it a 1 or scratch off the 1 and make it a 3. I've seen people scratch so hard, the only way they can tell if it's a winner on not is to check the barcode.
I suppose those people could take it to court but it's obvious the barcode says it's not a winning ticket.
Duh?
You are right! Thanks for pointing that out Todd.
I would expect to be paid as well.
It will be interesting to see where this goes.......
The quote you're agreeing with is wrong. He paid with a real $20 bill and they gave him a real ticket. Like most tickets, it wasn't a winning ticket. Unlike most tickets, it happens to have been a defective ticket. Also unlike most tickets, he gets to trade his losing ticket for another ticket, or he can have his $20 back. When's the last time anyone here got a losing ticket replaced for free?
Stay tuned- this ain't over .
Your opinion may or may not match the law depending on the circumstances, but a lottery ticket is a product, not a contract. All the law says about defective products is that the merchant or manufacturer has to repair or replace them.
Of course not. I'm guessing the whining will go on for days.
Too bad I deleted my other post. It mentioned several other cases where players received misprinted tickets in FL. It's not as uncommon as I thought, and I don't think anyone ever collected a dime, but they got their $20 back.
I sort of agree with you, but not with the same attitude. I don't think it's whining at all. Sure the Law supports the view of the Lottery. However, many times companies that are protected by disclaimers get sued, don't they?
All the law says about defective products is that the merchant or manufacturer has to repair or replace them.
Were the people who got injured (or killed) compensated when the Firestone tires failed on the SUVs? Just curious. When a child seat fails to protect a baby, does it only have limited liability? I suppose what you were saying is that nobody was injured, so they only had to replace the ticket. If I got that ticket, I'd be having a nervous breakdown so then my family could sue the Florida Lottery for damages!!
Technically, it's not what is printed on the game portion of the ticket that matters. What counts is the ticket ID# (or barcode) number and verification code or codes when compared to the lottery's list of winners. With that in mind, it is best to have all "losing" tickets checked.
This also brings up a question of liability on the part of the ticket printing company, although their liability may be limited only to the cost of the ticket.
Maybe this person could round up a few thousand losing scratch tickets and take them in to a lottery office to be checked, citing that the loser could be a misprint and might actually be a winner..
:)
Funny!
This thing will most likely wind up lawyer vs. lawyer.
reminds me:
What is brown and black and looks good on a lawyer ?
a doberman
what do you call 25,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean ?
a good start
Why do sharks not bite lawyers ?
they don't eat their own
I slay me.....
What is brown and black and looks good on a lawyer ?
a doberman
I zoomed in on the video, I can see what happened. The 1 over the $500,000 is printed correctly but the "1" over the "TH" above was meant to be a "13" with something like "THRTN" or whatever. Somehow the right side of that got blocked. The odds of that happening exactly that way must be enormous in and of itself. I think the Lottery should pay them something, even a smaller prize, unless there are 10,000 other such tickets out there. What happened when they scanned the ticket at the Store, or did they bother to do that? Just ran off to Lottery HQ with it? Understandable, but I'd not do that without validating first at the Store. These scratch-offs are notorious for teasing players, leave you with only one letter missing, or you get a full house but the "champion" gets a royal flush. I play them sparingly because I don't know what the real odds are and I think I have a better shot on Numbers or Lotto.
Florida may print 100 million or more lottery tickets every year. I wouldn't expect misprints to be terribly uncommon, in terms of hearing about them, but a couple hundred out of 100 million is only 1 bad one in 500,000.
Yes, people get sued all the time. Often the plaintiff has a legitimate claim, but too often it's because too many people think that if they suffered some sort of misfortune it must be somebody else's responsibility to make things better for them. Just like the subject at hand. Some guy buys a losing lottery ticket, and because a misprint made him think he won, a lot of people think he should be paid half a million dollars.
What I said about defective products was about problems that simply prevent a product from doing what it was intended to do, not product liability. That should have been clear from the context.
What I said about defective products was about problems that simply prevent a product from doing what it was intended to do, not product liability. That should have been clear from the context.
Yes, I was just being difficult.
This has happened before in the past. I do remember reading news articles on Lottery Post about the same ticket (Gold Rush) having misprints. I've noticed that they do reprint that game because it is popular. With the last batch there was a misprint and on this batch there was a misprint. Anyone see a pattern?
In my honest opinion they should pay. They drove to headquarters (look at gas prices) and the numbers matched. Even if it wasn't a winner the lottery should respect their customers with more than the $20 they got in return.
Now is the Florida lottery trying to just get out of paying is right. How do they know that the mis-print isn't the other way around and the number 1 (one) is correct and the letters under are the mis-print and should have said "one" and thirteen would be thtn I think in WI. all teen numbers in scratch offs are four letters not two. I don't play them that much as I don't feel I win enough to justify spending the money on them, especially in my area I don't see many winning scracth offs sold.
CNN.com has a copy of the misprinted ticket. If ever there was a time for dedicated lottery players to unite and rally around a cause - here you have it! This couple should fight until they prevail. I have no doubt that public sitiment is on their side and if they have the wherewithal to stand, they will emerge victorious!!!!
I think this case indicated an unfair business practice by FL lottery, and people in FL should form a class-action law suit.
FL lottery has multiple layers of security to prevent misprint from claiming prizes, but it did not form same layers of protection to prevent customers from mistakenly throw away winning tickets because of misprint. That is an unfair business practice to cheat on people's money. People in class action should pull out all the FL lottery scratch ticket prize claiming history, sue FL lottery at fault for any unclaimed prizes, and ask FL lottery to pay all those money back to the players.
The way the lottery regulations are written, the validation procedure rules. The couple with the ticket will not get anything except the $20 for the ticket through the courts. However, there is precedent for people taking their case to the legislature which can authorize full payment of the ticket ($500,000) through the legislative process...
duckman
Had you gotten that ticket I'm pretty sure you'd be singing quite a different tune.
For $500,000 I'd imagine you'd be screaming like a banshee (who wouldn't?)
Just my $.02, the lottery shouod pay them, otherwise, the message being sent is indeed, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Justxploring has it right, Floridians should boycott FLA scaratchers for a month, but of course the lottery knows that won't happen.
As good ole attorney Johnny Cochrane would quote in the courtroom:
If thats what the ticket say, you must pay!
Dont't dey have aHaaaaaaaaaaaa
"RECALL"
MOST car companieeeeeeee'sssssssssss..........PAY for MISTAKE's
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Send E-MAIL thank'n your local lottery "fer" L@@K'n out fer "U"!!
Nice that they can arbitrarily decide if something is a 'misprint' or not... how would WE know if they are telling the truth or not ?
They can say the barcode says about anything they want, as far as being 'correct' or not.
"I zoomed in on the video, I can see what happened."
Did you notice that the line under the top row of numbers was partly scratched off so I'm wondering if part of the 3 was scratched off too? I doubt that Florida or any other state lottery will payoff a jackpot on ticket "that looks like" a winner whether it was a misprint or over zealous scratching.
"What happened when they scanned the ticket at the Store, or did they bother to do that?"
I believe they drove straight to the lottery headquarters in Tallahasse, the ticket was scanned there, and called CNN after they were the told the ticket was a misprint.
Probably quite a few tickets get thrown away because people don't carefully check their tickets. If somebody isn't sure they can have the clerk where the bought the ticket (or any lottery terminal) scan it.
How could you prove that unclaimed tickets were mistakenly thrown away because of misprints?
One of the many lessons learned here is that for you scratch off players
in theory all you have to do is choose your ticket and go get the barcode
scanned. If they claim its a looser get your ticket right back and scratch
it off later if you'd like. They try to entertain you with silly games but
get to the point.... did I just choose a winner BARCODE BARCODE BARCODE
Asking for help on words like thats going to determine if they win or not
If lottery winners were decided by a jury then every player with a good lawyer would win.
i travel a lot and in the parking lots of convenience stores people are scratching away. i'd say the majority are addicted so the boycott talk is a waste of time. on the legal end if you're fighting the state and they make the rules it's not impossible but pretty hard to win. if you just have to gamble take $5 buck and pick mega numbers and bank the rest and just avoid the silly scratch offs.
The ticket was never a winner and it only looks like a winner because either the 3 (in 13) wasn't printed on the ticket or it was scratched off. Since both the barcode and the "th" under the number prove it was a 13, I doubt Florida will set a precedent and pay him the jackpot unless they want long lines of people that have figured out ways to remove 0 - 9 and match all the "1s" and expect to be paid too.
The ticket says "If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS match any of the WINNING NUMBERS, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s)". The customer isn't worried about letters and barcodes. If the lottery doesn't want to be help responsible for misprints, they should change it to say "If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters match any of the WINNING NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s) and their corresponding letters". It says right on the ticket if the NUMBERS match, you win. It says nothing about the letters or barcodes, nor is there a disclaimer on the back stating anything about the letters or barcode. You might say that's nit picking, but we're talking about a lot of money. So much money that could change someone's life. Details are extremely important when talking about matters like this and now the FL lottery is just brushing it off like it's no big deal. I hope these people sue not just for the prize, but also for false advertising, lost wages for the time off they took while claiming the ticket, and the gas it took to go to lottery HQ and back.
Associated Press - May 17, 2007 4:33 PM ET
The Florida Lottery is refusing to pay a $$500,000 prize until it can inspect the scratch-off ticket, which officials say appears to be a misprint.
The ticket holder says lottery officials told him the top number was actually a misprinted "13." A lottery spokeswoman says the ticket still needs to be turned over for a full inspection.
"If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters match any of the WINNING NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s) and their corresponding letters".
You didn't mention your experience with scratch-off tickets, but people do actually scratch the numbers off the tickets and the only way to determine if it's a winning ticket is to check the barcode.
According to your logic, if there is a 1 in the prize section of a ticket, all anybody would have to do is find a way to remove the 0-9 from 10-19 and claim they won that prize regardless what the barcode or what the letters under the numbers are.
"You might say that's nit picking, but we're talking about a lot of money."
The only nit-picking I see is being done by a used car salesman (go figure) that probably scratched so hard he removed the 3. What happens when the ticket is inspected and there is evidence the 3 was removed; will the ticket holder be charged with fraud?
And it's also possible by measuring the spacing between the numbers on the top row that it was actually a 1 and they might have to pay him.
Too late to try to remain anonymous but he still has time to line up financial advisers.
I don't think it would be necessary to change the front to say "If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters match any of the WINNING NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s) and their corresponding letters", but I do think there should be a disclaimer on the back of the ticket as well as what the customer should look for in a defective ticket like the one in this story. When talking about the amount of money and number of tickets involved in scratch offs, details need to be at the extreme!
Every lottery ticket I've ever seen says that it is subject to the official lottery rules, or words to that effect.