N.M. man told $500k winning lottery ticket a 'misprint'

Comment #43

lynki516 — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 19:59:37 GMT

There are numbers on the bottom of the scratch off that tell if the ticket is a winner. If those numbers state the ticket is not a winning ticket- its NOT

Comment #42

HaveABall — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:47:43 GMT

, Quinto, he sounds like an unhealthily encourageable adult.

Anyhow, the store clerk(s) probably recalled that they pulled their other misprinted tickets from the sell bin ... but did or didn't explain that to him. Regardless, I think the Lottery Headquarters office was quite generous in offering this super-stretching complainer those 100 free tickets. Had he accepted them, he probably would have won at least $25-$75 bucks out of those 100 tickets! Geez.

Comment #41

Stack47 — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 22:36:15 GMT

This story is getting lots of attention and Jimmy Fallon joked about it in his monologue. What if a bank has a misprint on the amount of money from a check you deposited; the check was for $1000.00, but $100,000 was deposited in your account because of a printing error. Do you get to keep the money?

Or what if you deposited a check for $1000, but the deposit showed it was only $10.00 because a speck that looked like a period; does the bank get to keep $990?

In either situation is easy to r... [ More ]

Comment #40

OldSchoolPa — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 22:56:17 GMT

The word number indicated the right number is in the teens, not 1. Now it would be a different story if the lottery used military numerology...that is one two for 12, one eight for eighteen.

nope, that ticket is a loser dude

Comment #39

infiniti30 — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 21:40:38 GMT

Why, they didn't make the ticket. One of their vendors did. They admitted the ticket was printed incorrectly and reported it to the vendor. They offered fair compensation. The player realized the error in the printing process and tried to capitalize on it and succeeded by getting 5 times the value for his losing ticket. How could he think his ticket was worth 2X the top prize

Comment #38

uprrman — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 16:39:18 GMT

to bad for him he got no

Comment #37

myturn — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 04:02:58 GMT

The New Mexico lottery appears to be very incompetent. I wouldn't trust it after hearing this story.

Comment #36

Stack47 — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 01:53:58 GMT

I found it odd the state lottery would offer $100 worth scratch-off tickets when the email said there was a flaw in that particular pack of tickets and a complete reconstruction of the ticket showed it was not a winner. There is a difference between the average player finding a flaw and someone who thinks their ticket should pay over twice the advertised payoff and the gas station where they bought the ticket will pay them in cash.

The flaw could be not enough paint making it easy to scratch

Comment #35

TheGameGrl — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:58:31 GMT

I agree. til the money is in the bank or in hand, its best to pause on making rash actions.

I had a scenario where the entire packet from a store was never initialized in the terminal. I won legitimately yet when I went to claim it they said its NOT valid. I had them call the PA vendor hotline and they tracked down the vendor and about an hour later I had a money order in hand . Took all the thrill out of winning when they made an allegation that I some how may have stolen the packet. I said

Comment #34

JonnyBgood07 — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:34:59 GMT

no doubt...but we live in America so that's not gonna happen.

Comment #33

grwurston — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:32:25 GMT

Imagine if you won a major jackpot and told your boss what he could do with his job, then you found out there

was some kind of mistake and you had to beg for your job back. Moral... The win isn't official until you cash the check.

Comment #32

basil19 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:00:20 GMT

Misprinted money is valuable.in fact more valuable. I think anything that reveals a winner but has been misprinted and not tampered with it should be rewarded. Otherwise they should print warning on back of ticket .

Comment #31

basil19 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:55:15 GMT

cont...try pick up tickets left behind, i have found prizes in completely scratched ones.You are more likely to win this way compared to powerball jackpot.

Comment #30

basil19 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:24:14 GMT

Bar codes, scanning codes, are also a print ,My friend had a ticket that revealed a $50 winner and the ticket scanner revealed less, the ticket was clearly a 50 winner. He got his reward. Some people just scratch the scanning code. You probably been leaving you're treasures behind. It won't be a bad idea to pick up tickets with only bar codes scratched.

Comment #29

basil19 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:10:56 GMT

They are taking it just as serious ,but what they are doing is illegal ,if it appears to be a winner than it should be a winning ticket, the reason why you scratch. Lottery tickets also don't say anything about claiming a misprint. What mainly appears on it should be official. Try to make payments in advance for anything than tell them that it was a mistake and to send you your money back.

Comment #28

Guru101 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 18:24:07 GMT

You can still part of the second digit on both of them. It doesn't take a genius to know that it was a misprint.

Comment #27

rcbbuckeye — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 17:00:29 GMT

First thing I thought after reading the story is how did he expect to win $500,000 when the top prize is $250,000?

And as mentioned, the barcode indicates a winner or loser.

He's trying to pull a fast one. A very sloppy fast one. LOL.

Comment #26

shadowlady — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:06:25 GMT

I agree, if they know it is a defective batch, they should pull it. If it was defective in the buying public's favor, you can bet they would pull it in a heartbeat.

Comment #25

noise-gate — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 15:16:57 GMT

l get what you saying about this guy attempting to get the gas station clerk to pay him half a million dollars- my original beef was them continuing to sell defective scratcher tickets. If Advil had a misprint on their bottles- those items are recalled immediately because of lawsuits- with scratchers keep them rolling people ..they losing tickets anyway..

Comment #24

dallascowboyfan — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 14:52:36 GMT

Now that would be messed up.

Comment #23

RedStang — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 06:03:12 GMT

The New Mexico Lottery did offer him $100 in lottery tickets.

I hope their not the same tickets.

Comment #22

Stack47 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 05:27:56 GMT

I would probably agree with you, but John was only one seeing the email and his credibility is skeptical.

John says he thought he hit the big one. But he says when he went to the gas station to get his money, it didn't work.

I don't expect everybody to be lottery savvy, but expecting to collect over $500,000 at a gas station?

He was offered $100 worth of tickets, which was a nice gesture considering he believe he won over $1/2 million when the top prize was a quarter million.

Comment #21

mrcraft — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 04:56:39 GMT

I'm usually a person that says, pay the guy, but in this case looking at the ticket it's pretty clear those numbers are not 1's.

Comment #20

chris-chase — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 03:52:39 GMT

Exactly, they guy would have to be a borderline retard to think he won on that ticket. I would LMFAO if they turned around and sued him for

defamation.

Comment #19

Quinto — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 02:15:32 GMT

Ticket obviously says 12 and 18, not 1 and 1. He must not be able to read either, because under 12 it Tw.... and under 18 is Et.... so duh get a life.

Comment #18

noise-gate — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 01:27:49 GMT

Wait a minute there Stack..The lottery officials told him that they aware of the misprint on that batch, yet they continued to sell them instead of pulling their product off the sheves,perhaps thinking that no one would catch it...well duh.

The last thing l need to hear is we know there is a defective batch out there ..but since you the only one complaining- we guess it's not that severe after all..

Comment #17

Stack47 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 00:57:38 GMT

He should at least get the cost of the ticket refunded though.

People keep using the word misprint when it looks like the second digit was scratched off in the top line. Wouldn't that open the door for anyone scratching off the second digit in any number from 10 to 19 and then getting a refund on a worthless ticket

Comment #16

DoctorEw220 — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 00:24:57 GMT

It's very clear that neither of those numbers are just 1 . He should at least get the cost of the ticket refunded though.

Comment #15

Tony Numbers — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 23:50:40 GMT

Aside from what is printed on the face of the scratch ticket, the ticket is protected by the bar code. So the value of the ticket can always be determined by the bar code , despite the symbols or numbers on the ticket face.

Comment #14

maringoman — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 23:10:17 GMT

I just hope the unfortunate guy didn't tell his boss exactly what he thinks of them before the bad news kicked in because the boss would be the one having the last laugh.

Comment #13

Chacha33 — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:14:23 GMT

Ron, some instant tickets--mainly the Bingo--I've played in Missouri and Florida have had $25,003 prizes (the top prize plus a $3 line) so it's not unheard of, but in this case, you're spot on. $250,075, what an odd prize

Comment #12

dallascowboyfan — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:07:12 GMT

Wow that suxs the NML should do the right thing.

Comment #11

ThatScaryChick — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 21:40:36 GMT

Same. Too easy for mistakes like this to happen.

Comment #10

Dead_Aim — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 21:24:47 GMT

Here's the thing, how many winners have been thrown away because of misprints too? No one will ever know. Funny how that works in their favor, don't ya think

Comment #9

Ron5995 — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 20:55:05 GMT

He should have taken the $100 in lottery tickets. Who knows, maybe a real jackpot winner would be in there.

While some misprints could be debatable, this one is clear-cut loser. Not only are the numbers wrong, but the combination of so-called winners is clearly invalid. A large jackpot ticket, in every instant game I'm familiar with, would never have a smaller $50, $75, etc winner too...

Immediate size winners also are most typically limited in what combinations are valid. For example, if... [ More ]

Comment #8

DoctorWhy — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 20:39:10 GMT

I understand his frustrations but it looks like abbreviated numbers underneath the ones. Definitely a missprint. He should be grateful he got those free tickets, he might win of those.

Comment #7

Stack47 — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 20:23:30 GMT

There's a 1 right here for $250,000, said Wines. Right below that is another 1 and it's a $250,000 winner. But there was a problem - the maximum prize for the ticket is $250,000.

The title of this article is very misleading because there never was a winning lottery ticket. Looking at the 14 in the third line it's obvious another digit was on the right side of the 1 in the first and second lines. It even says below the picture you see where not all of the other digit was scratched off.

Acco... [ More ]

Comment #6

noise-gate — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 20:04:20 GMT

This is just another reason why I stay clear of scratchers tickets.You guaranteed a BS answer if they think they have a chance of screwing you over by claiming misprint

The words no one wants to hear...

We did a reconstruction of your ticket and guess what Pal, you lose ..end of discussion.

Comment #5

GASMETERGUY — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 19:58:31 GMT

Casinos have been declaring malfunctions on their one-armed bandits for several years now, denying the player a good hunk of money. Looks as if the lottery has picked up on the scheme. Look for more misprints on scratch off in the future.

Comment #4

Get paid — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 19:47:34 GMT

Its a printer,they do malfunction sometimes.Not really a fan of scratch off tickets.

Comment #3

jump6702 — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 19:18:36 GMT

should get more the a 100 dollar it is there mistake.

Comment #2

sully16 — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 19:12:26 GMT

They should honor their mistake.

Comment #1

Chacha33 — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:45:33 GMT

It's a tough break for John, but indeed, a misprint. If the 1 which matched his numbers just said ONE underneath the number instead of TW and the NM Lottery refused to pay him, there'd be legitimate cause for a lawsuit. But it looks like several numbers on his ticket were blurred out and he should receive some compensation in addition to the tickets, although not the full prize.

N.M. man told $500k winning lottery ticket a 'misprint'

Lottery Post — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:10:12 GMT

A New Mexico man thought he won big bucks on a lottery scratcher only to find out it was a misprint.

In December, John Wines bought a scratch-off lottery ticket at the Shell gas station in Roswell, New Mexico.

The winning numbers were 1 and 2.

As John started scratching, he came across not 1,2,3 or 4 but 5 winning numbers, totaling over $500,000.

If you look closely at the ticket, you can see part of a number that's supposed to be next to the 1's, but it's very faint and you can't te... [ More ]