Lottery payout complicated by laser printer mishap

Comment #33

KY Floyd — Mon, 24 May 2010 05:25:56 GMT

What is a laser jet printer anyway? either it's an ink jet or a laser, and in this case, a laser.

I'm certainly not familair with their entire product line, but HP makes at least 57 laser printers and every one of them is a laserjet.

Comment #32

caipiao — Sat, 22 May 2010 13:20:02 GMT

even without physical ticket, they pay up, good. the act of buying winner makes him winner

Comment #31

LckyLary — Sat, 22 May 2010 05:26:46 GMT

What is a laser jet printer anyway? either it's an ink jet or a laser, and in this case, a laser.

The new tickets I notice, are very delicate. They are like FAX paper. Much easier to read but be careful with them! even folding can cause the barcode to be unreadable.

Comment #30

HaveABall — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:21:23 GMT

truly fortunate that the lottery was willing to spend so many costly hours verifying via so many methods this time!!! This is so elating

Comment #29

HaveABall — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:10:12 GMT

The lottery is a great deal for any government. After all, it is difficult to push through a lot of DOUBLE TAXATION methods. One pays tax FIRST (apx. 51%?) when they are purchasing the lottery ticket, and SECOND when they collect their over $5000 win (apx. 35-46%).

I don't think the lottery will ever go out of fashion with governments and organizations within our planet.

BIG congratulations to the winners of this lottery jackpot -- I bet it feels greatly powerful and joyful to be in the l... [ More ]

Comment #28

Captain Lotto — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:23:44 GMT

Making a copy is probably a good idea, but I would point out that a copy of a ticket is not valid for claiming purposes - and you do run the risk of leaving it in the copier

Comment #27

savagegoose — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:55:07 GMT

nothing can compare to the power of stupid

Comment #26

rdgrnr — Mon, 17 May 2010 02:12:51 GMT

He's got a ticket worth millions about to expire and he trusts the POST OFFICE to get it there?

This guy should get the Dumbest Luckiest Award for all time.

Dumbest for entrusting it to a mailman.

Luckiest because it even got there. Naturally it was late but the miracle of the story is that it was not lost or stolen or delivered to the wrong state or city or country.

Comment #25

Astekblue — Sun, 16 May 2010 20:12:42 GMT

Anybody remember this one......... I read it in USA Today few years ago

I think the guy was from New Jersey ( maybe New York )....either one....he crossed over from one to the other.....maybe working on a job.....I dont know........as he was an Engineer if I remember correct

Happens to buy a Lottry ticket while he was over there

When he was back home.......throws it into a catch all drawer at home I think

Close to a year later he was watching TV one night

News came on and was... [ More ]

Comment #24

Jack Pot — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:09:24 GMT

Good advice Psycho- I wouldn't have thought of that.

Comment #23

Raven62 — Sun, 16 May 2010 13:30:03 GMT

Banning the Lottery would mean a Loss of Tax Dollars.

Comment #22

psykomo — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:58:06 GMT

CONGRATULATE U (late)2222222222222222222222!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TAKE the VICE of PSYKO BUY a NEW BOAT use that printer 4UR

ANCHOR ^!^

U R LUCKY..... .....a.....WINNER

Comment #21

louise black — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:47:35 GMT

Great !! It's time some of that money is in the people hands. Good for them

Comment #20

rdgrnr — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:14:38 GMT

Nice of the TX Lottery people to bend just a little.

Betcha Willis Willis would have appreciated a little of that.

Comment #19

maringoman — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:16:01 GMT

Imagine that! $48M and you dont even need a college degree, no years of experience and references, no rich uncle who owns Intel. Just one borrowed lousy dollar and some luck. I'm surprised the government has not tried to ban lottery seeing the way it bans everything that people seem to enjoy themselves.

Comment #18

dopey7719 — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:06:11 GMT

This is the craziest story I've read in a while. People like him SHOULDN'T play the lottery...or anything else. Geez....on the other hand, he is one LUCKY man for the lottery to go through the effort to help him. Stupidity shouldn't be rewarded...but in this case it was and often is.

Comment #17

Halle99 — Sat, 15 May 2010 06:28:19 GMT

Congrats to the winner......Always use a pen to sign the back of the lottery...........Well as for me....I will definitely keep my jackpot winning ticket safe and sound,.....

Good luck to all LP members and guests...

Comment #16

jeffrey — Sat, 15 May 2010 05:34:53 GMT

Guess he didn't have a typewriter. Good Idea to photocopy the winning ticket. Used to keep my tickets in my wallet until I washed it with my pants. Who knows? They dissolved. I keep them in my change box in my car. I like to check them to see if I need new tickets. Hope they don't burn up. Never had a problem before except for bends.

Don't think I would every put my ticket into a mechanical device. Too many shreddings occur in machines. Ouch, that would be expensive. Zip baggy in a sack tied... [ More ]

Comment #15

PERDUE — Sat, 15 May 2010 05:10:59 GMT

How stupid can lottery players be? I wonder if it is only lottery players that are such suckers for punishment that when they get a ticket that has won the jackpot they have to do something to sabatage the whole deal.

I mean come on any village idiot knows that you don't apply heat to thermal paper. Anyone who owned a computer and printer in the 80's or 90's knows about thermal paper. Sh*it, da*mn near all printers were dot matrix or thermal during that time and if you owned a fax machine or... [ More ]

Comment #14

rdgrnr — Sat, 15 May 2010 02:44:21 GMT

I'll make sure to ask Sahib down at the 7-11 what kind of paper my ticket is printed on next time.

Comment #13

Raven62 — Sat, 15 May 2010 02:36:40 GMT

The Endorsement was for a group called MAED Trust: Maybe he has rotten Penmanship

Comment #12

increase — Sat, 15 May 2010 01:22:51 GMT

So now we know what not to do.

I'm glad that the winner was able to collect the money.

When I win, I will be safely inside with my signed ticket until the lottery office opens.

Comment #11

Todd — Sat, 15 May 2010 00:36:24 GMT

In one form or another, that was my first thought too.

Comment #10

rdgrnr — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:59:52 GMT

He wanted to sign his ticket with a laser printer?

That sounds like the kinda guy you'd like to grab by the back of the neck and shake him around like a rag doll for a few minutes.

Then give him a smack upside his head and hand him a friggin' pen.

Comment #9

LotteryJunkiE99 — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:24:58 GMT

Wow, what a Juicy STORY! And Informative Too !!

I Learned alot from this Article, but I mean, hasn't anyone heard of indelible ink?

I think its 7 dollars at most office supply stores. I think my biggest fear with tickets is misplacing them, or spilling food on them. or Orrrrrr get this............ having them fall in a puddle of mud! The kind that is just not washable! lol.... or orrrrr, hmmm, having them fly out the window

Comment #8

RJOh — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:38:03 GMT

The only things I do to my winning tickets are highlight the winning numbers with a pink marker and sign them. So far I haven't had a problem claiming my winnings which lately have only been $150 or less.

Comment #7

konane — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:34:29 GMT

The winner was really lucky the lottery had so many forensic methods for ticket authentication. Congratulations to the winner

Comment #6

dpoly1 — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:28:05 GMT

I always print my name and sign my ticket with a good pen. I then keep my ticket safely in my empty wallet

Comment #5

adamc224 — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:37:25 GMT

Also do not leave your ticket in a car in the spring or summer months or in direct sunlight... Always bring your ticket inside and store in a cool dark place... i had a $150.00 powerball winner that i almost could not clame because the barcode was damaged due to leaving it in the car. thankfully they manually entered the numbers and i got my money

Comment #4

liberal47 — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:04:46 GMT

When I had my big score, I scanned my ticket on my inkjet HP printer. No problems there. Then I put the ticket in a ziplock baggie, and then into my no fly zone. That's an area that I always know will be taken care of. My big fear with using a public copier would be forgetting to take the original ticket out of the copier once I had the copies.

Comment #3

Captain Lotto — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:49:18 GMT

The more you know...

You can also damage Lottery tickets with other heat sources. An iron, for instance. Putting it in the microwave when it gets wet is also a bad idea... you must present a ticket to have a claim.

This guy was really lucky there was such a trail and all the different pieces came together.

Comment #2

sully16 — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:00:04 GMT

Good to know Raven, thanks.

Comment #1

Raven62 — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:54:43 GMT

Before handling Paper: It's important to know what Type of Paper it is: In this case the Lottery Ticket was printed on Thermal Paper with a Thermal Printer. Applying Heat to a Thermal Paper Lottery Ticket will all but make it Illegible and make it all but Impossible to Claim the Prize Money if not for Forensics.

Lottery payout complicated by laser printer mishap

Lottery Post — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:54:45 GMT

Sign ticket with pen: Good

Use laser printer to 'type' endorsement: Bad

While the identity of the man who won a $48.8 million lottery prize in Alvin remains unknown to the public, a report released Tuesday by the Texas Lottery Commission shows the steps the agency took to verify the ticket's authenticity after it was damaged in a mishap with a laser jet printer.

The mystery man purchased his Texas Lottery ticket Oct. 18 from a self-service machine at the H-E-B Pantry grocery store in Al... [ More ]