Costa Rica court rejects washed lottery ticket

Comment #17

KY Floyd — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:56:00 GMT

a good faith attempt to verify the claim was needed by the lottery and court

You're confused about the role of the court. Their job is to rule on the law, which seems to say that the lottery isn't required to pay *this* claim.

I'd like to see a good faith effort on their part to find a way to pay rather than a way not to pay

I agree that the lottery should make a good faith effort, but there's nothing to indicate that they did or didn't do exactly that. In any case, if a claimant can... [ More ]

Comment #16

RJOh — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:47:43 GMT

You might be surprised at the number of claims that are made once a ticket goes unclaimed for a while. A good faith effort by the lottery to find a way to pay out the prize could be made even more complicated by several arguable claims being made.

Even when tickets have been turn in by persons making a claim, arguable claims for the prizes have been made by others that the ticket was stolen or found after they lost it.

In the end it's just easier for lotteries and courts to resort to the... [ More ]

Comment #15

BobP — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:41:34 GMT

All I said was a good faith attempt to verify the claim was needed by the lottery and court. Having one claiment and one unclaimed prize goes a long way toward putting that attempt together.

Like you, I would like more details to base a judgement on. If the guy produced a year's worth of past tickets playing the same combination, that would help. Though maybe he forgot to play that week and washed some old ticket into an illegible lump to make a false claim, but he would also have to count... [ More ]

Comment #14

trulyblessed — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:35:49 GMT

I've washed two winning scratchers before by mistake. Best believe that if I knew they were winners they would have never made it to the washer though

Comment #13

KY Floyd — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 05:29:03 GMT

The article doesn't even come close to offering enough information to suggest that it would have been reasonable to pay the claim. OTOH, it does include two statements indicating that at least part of the ticket is either missing completely, or at least illegible. Knowing that a winning ticket was sold but unclaimed supports the claim, but does absolutely nothing to prove it.

Comment #12

ThatScaryChick — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:12:31 GMT

Exactly, Anyone can claim they washed their ticket in the washing machine and apparently, quite a few have made that claim. Can it happen? Sure. I believe some people are telling the truth, but if one wants to avoid losing out on a lot of money, people need to start taking better care of their tickets. Don't just shove your tickets in your pockets or whatever. Put them in a safe place. You never know when one of those slips of paper will be worth thousands or millions of dollars. Treat your tick... [ More ]

Comment #11

JackpotWanna — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:50:20 GMT

The problem is anyone can that they lost the ticket in the wash. Who do you believe

Comment #10

crystaltips — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:25:16 GMT

It's his own fault. Vital information will have been washed away from the ticket so the ticket was probably badly defaced.

Next time, do as I do and buy online lol. Feel sorry for him but he should have been more careful.

Comment #9

dpoly1 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:24:49 GMT

That does it. I will not travel to Costa Rica to play the lottery

Comment #8

BobP — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:19:08 GMT

Shame on the Costa Rica Lottery and Court.

In my opinion the lottery owes all players a good faith attempt to verify claims of potential winners.

The lottery knows exactly how many jackpots, 1st, 2nd, 3rd place prizes it should pay out. They can wait until the redeem date had passed and see how many of the questioned prizes remain unclaimed.

Of couse this requires a good faith attempt on the customer's part to bring their claim to the lottery right away, not wait until there are o... [ More ]

Comment #7

BabyJC — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:14:15 GMT

Wow, that winning lotto ticket in the washer machine scenario really happens

Comment #6

psykomo — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:22:47 GMT

BUTT?

what would CUBA DO???

LOL

PSYKOMO

Comment #5

lottocalgal — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:57:32 GMT

I agree,

All tickets say Do not deface. To me that would include a few spins around the rinse cycle. There are those that would conterfeit tickets or try something else underhanded. I actually agree with the officials on this one.

Comment #4

ThatScaryChick — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:27:15 GMT

I bet there are many people who claim to have washed their winning lottery tickets. People need to keep them in safe spots and not just stuff them in their pockets.

Comment #3

Set4life — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:20:36 GMT

It sounds like they dont want to pay him... cheap snip s :D

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

Comment #2

diamondpalace — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:15:40 GMT

I am guessing the part that is missing piece contain the bar code/serial code of the ticket? If the code is there within what's left of the ticket, I don't see why he can't get his money.

Comment #1

MaddMike51 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:31:16 GMT

This is why they make wallets,purses and safety deposit boxes.

Costa Rica court rejects washed lottery ticket

Lottery Post — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:54:08 GMT

A Costa Rican who mistakenly washed a winning lottery ticket worth 112,000 dollars lost a court appeal to obtain the prize, a report said Wednesday.

The Supreme Court rejected the appeal by the man known only as Urroz, who selected the correct numbers for second prize in the June 29 draw but later found the remains of his ticket in the pocket of a pair of recently-washed pants, La Nacion daily reported.

Lottery organizers in September refused to pay the prize without the whole ticket.

T... [ More ]