Includes video report
A lightning quick lottery ticket thief tried his luck twice, yanking California Lottery Scratchers display cases from counters in bold heists that were caught on camera at two San Gabriel Valley businesses.
The crimes were reported Jan. 22 at Smoke Rings 4 and Daily Donut in San Dimas. Store security video shows the man, dressed in athletic wear, grab the Scratchers displays in a bear hug before sprinting away, leaving a flurry of lottery tickets in his wake.
Both crimes occurred within hours on Jan. 22. The man was seen leaving both scenes in a silver four-door sedan, which also can be seen in the security camera video.
The tickets' serial numbers were reported to the California State Lottery.
The man is in his late 20s to early 30s, about 6 feet tall and 180 to 200 pounds, authorities said. He has a close-cut mustache and goatee. He was wearing a black cap with white letters, a gray hoodie, dark pants and dark tennis shoes.
The car was a newer model silver Chrysler 300C with paper plates.
Anyone with information about the crimes can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at 909-450-2700.
No injuries were reported.
VIDEO: Watch the surveillence footage
Glad the retailers contacted the lottery with the serial #'s so they can be DEACTIVATED. Wouldn't it be nice if they knew one was a big winner, let it stay active and then arrest him @ the lottery cashing?
😒bet hes the other democrat
Illegal drugs and alcohol are involved here. My guess.
I wonder if you scan a stolen ticket with the lottery app on your phone, if it'll report your account to the lottery office? If it doesn't, it should.
You can be as fast as Sonic, but no way this thief enriched himself. Those scratchers NEED to be activated by the store scanner, or that's the message l got from a store owner a month or two ago. It goes like this: You point out what scratcher you want to purchase, the clerk pulls it off the reel, then : scans that puppy " before" handing it over. Consider " gift cards" at most stores- if those are stolen, they useless unless scanned at the checkout stand. Same thing with scratchers. Might as well dump those scratchers in your neighbor's trash can..
* Reminds me of: A story l read, whether true or false, l found hilarious. This guy or gal hands a note with " give me the money" to a bank teller, written on the back of the thief's personal deposit slip. Go figure.
Rarely do I play scratchers, but you are 100% correct. The clerk scans the barcode prior to selling it therefore activating it.
OTOH, and off subject to haters out there, KY is pulling the plug on its RNG game Quick Bucks, it was a flop from what I could tell with mainly $14 winners.
It's obvious that the thief is not up on the rules governing lottery scratchers or he would have known about them not being activated without the retailer scanning them at the time of sale.
Besides the police having a list of serial numbers from the stolen tickets, they have very good surveillance photos of him and his car.
Stupid is as stupid does!
All this talk of needing to activate scratchers... we are overlooking the possibility he merely fancied the display cases.
Not in NY at least. The whole book is scanned once only. No way each ticket would have to be activated before selling. No way in NY. Probably would've been shot in the back running away in NY, haha.
I really gotta create a like button.
"In other news, lottery ticket thief was caught with 2 free tickets and dirty hands from scratching dust."
That is indeed the correct process. The packet gets activated just prior to stocking for sale to the public.
The scanning of individual ticket is for the stores inventory and accounting cost. . Thank you for shedding some truth on the process .
" The whole book is scanned once only." I guess you know something thieves do not. While the rest of the country implements safety measures against lottery thieves- NY remains dumb? Where do you get your information from Solly?
l stand corrected: Had to go back to June 18th 2012 ( before my time) to find a thread " Are clerks supposed to scan tickets before you pay?" Interesting comments l might add.
* Remarks from rdgrnr on that thread were funny.
That's the procedure for Gift Cards !
Scratchers are Activated by Book when put out For Sale to Players!
Forgot to ask when playing Cashball 225 today about this. Am thinking you are correct and perhaps they scan each individual ticket for pricing? I'll ask one of these days. I would IM KLC on FB about it, but it is almost a sensitive grey area IMHO and might not answer.
Forget that lil nonsense BD- what's the latest on our scratcher display hauling thief? The press in this neck of the woods are comatose - nary a word on it.
... I am a concerned citizen, l need updates.
This reminds me of a guy who owned/owns a store where they sell Lottery tickets. He said a couple of his Employees stole a bunch of Lottery scratch off tickets and when confronted, they claimed they would pay him back with the winnings. :/ He had an ingenious idea. He acted like he wasn't all that mad and got them to sign a paper promising to give him back the stolen lottery money with the winnings. He turned that signed paper into the court and got them prosecuted. They were idiots to first steal lottery tickets from their Employer and then basically sign a confession of theft thinking their boss was going to be okay with them for promising to pay him back with the stolen winnings. They had no idea the boss was going to turn in that signed confession of theft to the court and get them prosecuted. Smart people would have refused to sign anything. They were most likely caught on camera signing that confessional paper AND stealing the lottery tickets in the first place. Being caught on camera stealing the Lottery tickets is bad enough but to also be seen signing the confessional paper made matters even worse.
I've heard about as much as you on your lottery caper. Does their website say anything? I'll check later on.
Oh, BTW nice secondary prize on PB last week to whomever won the huge jackpot!
Just an article from three days ago is all I could find.
Mea Culpa. You are 100% correct, they activate the rolls/books prior to sale. She said they scan them to ring them up for the register.
I have bought many whole books of scratchers. 99% of the time, you get at the most 55% of your money back. They are usually 45 to 55% back. Scratchers are a joke. NY has two $30 ones right now, a $25 one, and probably 4 or 5 $20 ones. Used to be a big deal to buy a $30 one. They're a joke. Everybody always thinks it's the next one, the next one. It's not the next one. The next one has nothing on it. 99% of the time.
It's better to win first and then play, because at least you're using "their" money to play. People know how many losers are on the roll, so they try to steal them, because nobody can afford to play all those tickets for a chance to win big. But the tickets are automatically canceled, so he'll never win anything and now the police are looking for him. Great plan. Well thought out. I find this interesting though, because it's the same thing for instance if a store closed their lottery business, and what if a jackpot winner is in those rolls. That ticket is now destroyed. When does it get recirculated and if? So yeah, on the off chance that a jackpot ticket was in those rolls, I think it's just a stupid and unfair thing to do. But it's an unfair world sometimes. Gotta make the best of it....if you can.
The games get canceled and they almost always have jackpot winners left on them. Seems pretty unfair. They're a joke.
Your post reminded me of the video footage of these two chubby ( is one allowed to say that?) female employees awhile ago working the counter, pulling scratchers off the reels, scratching away, one saying " Woo Woo, another $20." It's as though they had no idea that the store had surveillance cameras. The only thing missing, was them taking a swig at a open bottle of whisky as they went about doing they were doing. To think that was someone's girlfriends... Oh the horror!
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