Change in Penn. Lottery scratch tickets removes shortcut

Comment #13

sirbrad — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 02:46:14 GMT

I actually posted the first thread about this awhile back. Personally I think it is all a waste of time to change the code. If people want to cheat themselves out of the fun let them. I don't mind ignorance from a cashier, but arrogant ignorance with no merit or validation really irritates me. Or in other words, someone who is blatantly wrong assuming they must be right, and you are the idiot.

It is their job to know about these changes, not inconvenience a customer who is right and send... [ More ]

Comment #12

TheGameGrl — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:46:42 GMT

Lckylry- To each there own. I personally see NO sense in scratching off the whole thing only to know by the Loser letters that I lost. Pardon me if I dont care to in essense to endure the losing pain by completing the scratch off. End result is the same. A losing ticket is a losing ticket. If I see an M, C or an L I know I am on the right track to win big!

Grammy3- Glad to know my groups hypothesis is merited in some truth. Thanks for pointing out the validity of our theory. The PA lottery d... [ More ]

Comment #11

Grammy3 — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:54:07 GMT

Well your are right with Patel they own a lot of stores in Pa and there is one that pays less then the winnings so the person does not have to pay taxes.

I do not buy any tickets there anymore because I think it is wrong for them to come in this country and do the things they do.

Comment #10

LckyLary — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 05:00:53 GMT

Usually I get a scratch ticket if it's a new one that I like or if it takes time to play because to me it's no fun to quickly check for a winning code. I usually see yards of these tickets discarded and often find ones with missed prizes. I even wrote a prg. that can check Crosswords but only to double-check if I missed anything. They should make one of the scratch-offs with a theme of scratching one spot either YOU WIN (amount) or SORRY , for people who are in such a hurry. One of those for... [ More ]

Comment #9

sirbrad — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:34:12 GMT

Since that didn't work, you should have then called the cashier a moron and asked to see the manager.

Comment #8

rdc137 — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:32:05 GMT

Of the states I'm familiar with: DE, PA, MD have letters. NJ doesn't.

New York has letters, but I won $40 on a $20 Win for Life ticket and it had an X in it.

Comment #7

qutgnt — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:25:41 GMT

Those letters make playing the game pointless. I hate these letters. I scratch the first part of the game and I see an x and I know its a loser. Why not just have three big letters on the ticket instead of the numbers and prizes. Are people really that stupid that they need a code also to tell them they won. I refuse to play states instants that have them. Thank God Illinois doesnt.

Comment #6

TheGameGrl — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:41:56 GMT

Since this topic was specifically about the PA instant tickets, the one thing that doesnt change is the LOSING LETTER Indicators. Q,P,Z ,B are listed on the PA site as indicators that one has a losing ticket. You are more then welcome to read the New site validation code and see if what I relay is true. I try not to mis represent the facts as they are reported...

I side with the concept of my co-workers on the one sir name (patel)winning alot. They deliberately stay under the radar by NOT cl... [ More ]

Comment #5

duckman — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:53:46 GMT

Regarding the post about the name "Patel" winning a lot:

That is interesting. It looks like from the lottery website's winner's lists that some Patel's with the same first name and location are winning mid-level scratch game prizes ($1000 winners for example) more than once per month. The same first and last name(s) also appear in more than one month. This means one of two things:

1. The same first/last name Patel's are spending a HUGE amount of money buying these tickets (the odds for a... [ More ]

Comment #4

duckman — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:19:48 GMT

You should always check scratch off tickets completely. Some states which use the 3 letter codes only have meaningful codes for prizes up to $599 (useful for retailers to verify tickets). Big prizes may have a "non-winning" 3 letter code on them. For example, here in Florida, a common non-winning 3 letter code is "NVW". However, I have seen a big winning ticket (over $600) use the same "NVW" code.

So, always check tickets completely...big winners may have seemingly non-winning 3 letter codes.... [ More ]

Comment #3

TheGameGrl — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:56:44 GMT

True fact- the name Patel is the most named claimant under instant tickets in PA. Not a month goes by when researching this that our group takes a bet on how many are claimed under that name. It beats Smith or Miller sir names hands down. Most often these are the owners or family members of covenience stores....

As to the *no shortcut rule*. Its bogus. If you are somewhat familiar with how the new ticket format works, all you need to know is if you get a letter Q,Z,P on your ticket anywher... [ More ]

Comment #2

rdc137 — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:36:02 GMT

You have a lot of senior citizens who buy a lot of scratch off tickets in Pennsylvania. That will account for quite a bit of it. I recongize some of the names on the list as real people who are not insiders. I'm not saying its impossible, but it doesn't account for all of them. They may just be addicts.

That being said, don't forget about the infamous 666 drawing in the early 1980s.

Comment #1

GBSSR — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:34:19 GMT

While checking the winners posted on the Pa lotterys site, I noticed that the same individuals were winning month after month. I e-mailed the lottery in Dec and mentioned my findings. They said it was just luck. Then they changed the format of their tickets............ You tell me what was up.

Change in Penn. Lottery scratch tickets removes shortcut

Lottery Post — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:26:49 GMT

A change in the format of Pennsylvania Lottery scratch-off tickets to prevent fraud means that some lottery players could be mistakenly tossing away winning tickets, retailers said.

Since January, instant tickets have been printed with a new kind of security coding for retailers to verify that a winning ticket is valid.

Previously, a row of letters and numbers at the top or bottom of a ticket indicated the prize won. For example, a row interspersed with (5) and (0) meant the ticket was a