CLEVELAND — Ohio Lottery officials are considering new options to pay some winners because retailers now have less cash on hand to give out to those holding winning tickets.
Lottery winners one day might receive payment cards or have their winnings electronically transferred to an account, the Northeast Ohio Media Group reported.
Retailers can redeem winning tickets of up to $599, but Greg Bowers, Ohio Lottery finance director, said some retailers don't have enough cash on hand to pay out the prizes because of the increased use of credit and debit cards.
"It is a hot topic in the lottery industry," he said.
Bowers said he is not aware of any retailer who has been unable to pay winnings, but the problem can occur. About 85 percent of prizes are paid by retailers.
Winners of prizes between $600 and $5,000 can obtain a claim form at retailers to send in or they can receive cash from 192 banks across the state for a fee of $10.
Those who win more than $5,000 must contact a regional lottery office.
"This has been a struggle on how to get people their money because they want it fast," Lottery Director Dennis Berg said. "And certain people in this culture want cash."
Lottery officials said younger players likely would prefer another option than cash because they often don't carry a lot of money.
If cashless payouts are implemented, some retailers might be allowed to cash winning tickets between $600 and $5,000.
The Michigan Lottery introduced a debit card two years ago that allows players to buy tickets and have prizes up to $600 loaded on the card. But the lottery discontinued the card earlier this month.
I don't see anything wrong with cash payout. Are they trying to create a problem where there is none?.
The gist of the article is that many retailers don't carry enough cash to pay winners. I suppose most don't want to for security reasons. Also, like the article said, most people use debit and credit cards. That would be the problem.
It happened to me a few years ago. I won a few hundred dollars and the little convenience store where I bought my tic didn't have the money on hand. She told me to come back in a few hours and she would have the money, and she did. I understood, and it wasn't a big deal. Now if I win a chunk of money I just go to the Tom Thumb grocery store because they have cash at the service desk.
I had the exact same issue and had to do the same thing. BUT! what if you ONLY have a convenient store or two near you??? This would be a great option for those kinda issues.
Not feeling putting lottery winnings on a debit card AT ALL seems like another way to control and manipulate your lottery monies...
It I pay cash for a lottery ticket, I want cash back. As far as a bank charge a fee for cashing a lottery check & you have accounts with that bank, no way I would pay a fee. They may put a ten day hold on it depend on it amount & if is from another state. It you're a person at get a check from a out of state lottery on a regular base's they usually stop putting a hold on it at all. If I'm using cash, and the win is within the limit of the retailer I want cash.
One of my first posts in here was about going to an Allsups conv. store to cash in a $79 winner in one of the first Texas lottery drawings. The manager told me they didn't have enough money to pay and would have to give me an Allsups money order. I told her n/p (I understood they keep the cash in their registers to a minimum) and when I got the M.O., it was for $78.51...they had charged me 49 cents f/ the M.O.! I protested but it didn't do any good - I even told her I wanted the ticket back and they could keep their money, but she said it had already been validated and they couldn't void the M.O. "It's only forty nine cents." smirked the mgr. "Well then," I retorted "If it's only forty nine cents, you shouldn't mind paying for it, huh?" I went away fuming and it burned my butt for a week afterwards.
A couple of weeks later I won something like $53. Before I cashed it in, I called the Allsups corp. offices in N. Mexico, telling them about the last time and that I was going to cash my newest winning ticket at the same store and that I fully expected to get the entire amt. "Sorry." I was told. . "You'll be charged again, it's corporate policy...those M.O.s cost money!" I told the secretary to whom I was speaking that I knew why they offered money orders and it wasn't just to provide the service. No, they sell the money order, deposit the cash and make interest on it for a week or longer in many cases - the time it spent in an envelope going towards the recipient, then the day or two it took to clear the first bank and finally be debited against the corporate acct. It might not be a lot of money for a $79 M.O. but multiply that by hundreds, even thousands each day and it becomes a significant amt.
After getting the brush off from the Clovis main office, I then made a call to the Texas Lottery office in Austin. I was treated with respect, my complaint listened to and was even part of a conference call after I explained why I was upset to the nice lady who took my call. "We'll look into this immediately." I was promised. The next day I got a call back from Austin, telling me it had all been sorted out and was told that Allsups had been threatened with the immediate removal of all terminals and scratch tickets from ALL of their 100 or so stores in Texas.
The only other similar trouble I've had was being told that, since I didn't buy the scratch ticket there, I couldn't cash it there. I didn't argue, just didn't go back there ever again. They must have had a severe cash flow problem b/c they were out of business in a month or so.
Nice to hear in the end YOU won!!! It sucks that you had to go through all that. Stupid retailer thinking they have all the control of everything. Do they still have lottery terminals? Or have they given up on them since they don't want to give cash to winners?
That would have me po'd too.
They would never want the terminals and scratchers pulled from all their stores. They make a (small) percentage on each ticket sold which adds up.
Funny thing and I should have included it but what with the long distance calls, I spent more money than what I would have paid for the money orders. Still, I thought this was one of those cases where it wasn't the money, but the principle.
They still sell tickets and scratchers; like RCB says below your post, they make a small percentage (5%) on each ticket sold and I'm sure they didn't want to lose even that relatively small amount of profit. They still pay with a money order - when it's more than $20 or so or when there's no manager there to open up the drop safe. I don't blame them for paying that way, but the Texas Lottery rules now - since my complaint- clearly state:
Q. Do I have to pay a player with cash?
A. No, retailers may pay prizes in cash or by certified check, cashier’s check, or money order. Retailers may also pay prizes by business check if acceptable to the claimant. If a retailer decides to pay a prize with anything other than cash, the retailer shall inform the claimant prior to ticket validation.
The retailer shall not charge the claimant any fee for payment of the prize or for cashing a business check drawn on the licensed retailer account.
Thank You mikeintexas for standing in the gap for your fellow Texas lottery players. You displayed courage when you contacted the Lottery Commission .
When I went back to school back in 88-90, I worked part-time at a liquor store. The old folks who owned it wanted to sell and go down south to be near their son and I knew it was a good business and thought I might try to buy it. Not having much money or much of a credit rating or anything to secure a loan, I talked to one of our wealthier customers to see if he might want to invest. The people sold the store before he made up his mind, but he wanted to know if I wanted to go in with him on a lottery-only store, sited in one of those tiny photo developing kiosks in the middle of the shopping center parking lot. I had to decline - it wasn't that I knew the profit margin would be fixed at 5% (unless we sold other things, and there wasn't a lot of room in the tiny booth for more than the terminal, scratcher dispensers, a cash register and a chair) but that there wasn't a bathroom in the darn place.
I have bought a few scratch tickets and a lottery play or two from that Allsups since then, but I prefer to go to a liquor store a few blocks on up from that store (which is only a few blocks from my house - I drive a little farther to get to the liquor store) It's locally owned (as are all Texas pkg. stores) and I'd prefer the bonus for selling a winning ticket go to someone here in town, not to the corporation and the New Mex. fat cat family who owns it.
Not sure I would call it "courage"....I was really angry. Sometimes it's easy to have courage.
I was only turned away one time. The store owner simply said, "can you come back later when we have more cash?". Not a problem. It was early in the day, and I understood. For this very reason I try to keep my plays at 50 cents, and just play the ticket multiple times if I'm feeling really good about the number.
The big grocery store across the street always has the cash, so I usually go there to cash them.
Most lottery players are "old school" and want the cash. I think we all feel better when we can go get our cash and be done with it. We paid cash for our ticket, so we should deserve cash when we cash the tickets.