Lottery nightmare: Florida woman's prize is forfeited after postal service loses winning ticket

Comment #29

Raven62 — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 16:18:16 GMT

All's Well That Ends Well!

https://www.lotterypost.com/news/333990

Comment #28

Bleudog101 — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 14:38:14 GMT

She did send it certified. Didn't someone say that you can't insure a lottery ticket?

My other thought process is the FL should know, perhaps, which ticket it was so maybe inactivate it? If she signed it and the thief, if there is one, would have problems showing ID should it be required to cash it. Just my humble opinion.

Comment #27

PHIL85 — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 13:30:13 GMT

The ticket should have been sent Certified and insured for the full value.

Comment #26

Bleudog101 — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 12:47:23 GMT

Glad it worked out for you just fine.

Brings back memories of that guy in N. NJ who casually mailed his 'Big Game' (predecessor to Mega Millions) ticket to the lottery headquarters in Trenton, NJ. He got paid no problem.

Of all the states I've played in and mailed back small winners to the worst is by far the Georgia Lottery. First visit to New Orleans played and won about $36 or so, mailed it in and it came by within 3 days. Thought I did something wrong, no, it was a check with a ti... [ More ]

Comment #25

DELotteryPlyr — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 10:24:14 GMT

Congrats on the hit! Nice to hear the system worked for u.

Comment #24

LottoMomma — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 02:33:10 GMT

Well.. sad as it is, I found out when I had a $5000 winning scratch and couldn't make the trip 4 hours to the state lottery office.. I had to ship the ticket. I signed the back of it with my name and address, made a copy of it and sent it via overnight letter so I had tracking. No since insuring since they don't cover it.

I found out in all the fine print, that things such as lottery tickets, the US postal service does not reimburse the cost of losing a winning lottery ticket. That is the ri... [ More ]

Comment #23

ThatScaryChick — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:41:35 GMT

That's great to hear! I'm glad she got her money.

Comment #22

noise-gate — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:36:21 GMT

Excellent news Jeff.The squeaky wheel * TV station- gets the oil. Sometimes shaking the tree is necessary.

Comment #21

noise-gate — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:32:44 GMT

l guess sending anything with the USPS that has to do with the lottery, should come with a warning label Send at your own risk. Fortunately for myself, l will have no excuses, it's a 10 minute trip from my driveway by way of the Nimitz to their Dropbox.

Comment #20

Bleudog101 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:27:06 GMT

According the NY Post she got her money after all. A TV station there ran her story according the article. Happy ending, now she can get her new washer/dryer and car tires

Comment #19

dpoly1 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 20:04:42 GMT

And Pennsylvania wants you to mail in large jackpot tickets too!

NAH

Comment #18

Vergie6 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 17:11:01 GMT

My daughter sent me an Easter card year before last and I got it a little over a year later not opened and it looked

like it had not been tampered with at all...now figure that one out.

When I first opened it I thought it was a joke from her but she's never joked like that before and it was nowhere

near Easter of this past year but remember is was around a little over a year later when I got it....she did have a check in it but after several days of me saying I did not get it she cance... [ More ]

Comment #17

sdw1000 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 16:58:01 GMT

I wouldn't trust the USPS. I just had my birth certificate sent certified mail and they mis-sorted it and couldn't find it for a week. Should've sent it FedEx or UPS.

Comment #16

Stack47 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 16:18:21 GMT

That's true, but if you want to create a conspiracy theory, you must pretend that method is not secure.

Comment #15

GiveFive — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 14:39:15 GMT

Here's the saddest part of the story: The lady lives 49 miles from Tampa where The Florida Lottery has a District Office with a drop box. It's a very easy 49 minute drive down I-75 from where she lives to Tampa according to Google Maps.

Although I don't know her personal circumstances (she may not have much time available for her to drive down to Tampa) if it was me, I'd be dropping that ticket in the Tampa District Office drop box.

I live in New York State (in a month I'm moving to the w... [ More ]

Comment #14

Soledad — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 13:42:13 GMT

Saw this story. Shame. In the first P, it says it was certified mail, then it says at the end, that's why you choose certified mail. I don't believe she sent it with certified mail. Could be wrong. Confusing though.

Comment #13

GiveFive — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 13:18:50 GMT

I don't know if a dishonest post office employee was involved with the lost ticket or not, but it's worth pointing out that these days The USPS is a train wreck with regard to it's finances. There is no money available to the Post Office to do anything. Ask your mailman if he/she is allowed to work overtime and see what their reaction to that question is.

Given what the current daily working conditions are for post office employees, there are many reasons why a ticket sent via The US Mail co... [ More ]

Comment #12

Nikkicute — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 12:27:38 GMT

Here is the address to claim our prizes in Wisconsin:

Prizes

PO Box 777

Madison, WI 53774

Doesn't exactly scream lotto ticket inside but a player should be able to get it

mailed, shoot, might be safer sending it regular mail.

It's not like the envelop left the state, how the heck did Florida postal lose it

Comment #11

Bleudog101 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 12:21:48 GMT

That was my very first thought. It had been proven that last Christmas season postal workers stole many gift cards from the mail. Not sure if anyone was caught. As for the gift cards IDK how it could be implemented but have some kind of email with a special code that the giftee would need to activate---isnt going to happen.

Skimmed the article too quickly, but was the ticket signed

Comment #10

FLATRANSPLANT — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 11:51:46 GMT

Sad. But I had $1,000 scratch off ticket that I sent via FEDX. It was worth the $15 bucks. It got delivered the next day. Had my money within 3 days.

And I took copy of all the documentation and signed my ticket.

Comment #9

DELotteryPlyr — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 09:38:56 GMT

I was thinking the same thing about an employee intercepting it. Sad .....

Also - if this started happening multiple times in the state would the lottery drop that option

Comment #8

chris632 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 08:57:54 GMT

Drop box is the better option because you are not actually dropping it in a dropbox. You are basically hand delivering it to a lottery employee at a lottery office by dropping it in an envelope held by the lottery employee. The only bad part is your check is then mailed to you but at least a check can be reissued if lost.

Good Luck, Chris

Comment #7

TheMeatman2005 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 07:49:58 GMT

She may not get her $1,000 prize, but since the USPS didn't deliver her package, she should at least, get what she paid for the certified mail delivery refunded.

Comment #6

Big Joey — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 04:57:57 GMT

Registered Mail is the most secure postal mailing method. It is signed for by every hand that touches the package.

Comment #5

cottoneyedjoe — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 04:15:41 GMT

I would bet money a postal employee, upon seeing that the envelope was addressed to the lottery office, opened it hoping they could intercept a winning ticket to cash for themselves. Seeing that it was a second chance ticket registered to someone else they destroyed the evidence of their crime.

Reminds me of someone I used to know who liked to mess with unscrupulous postal employees. He would send letters to friends and family in very flimsy envelopes that you could see through, and include f... [ More ]

Comment #4

Stack47 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 02:44:41 GMT

the Lottery told her she could either send the ticket through the mail or hand-deliver it to a drop box.

The choice was either put the ticket into the drop box and probably get it validated the next business day or take a chance by mailing it.

Initially, the Lottery reached out to Burgess by phone, but she missed the call.

Always is a rest of the story .

Comment #3

Raven62 — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 22:54:27 GMT

Condolences to the Second Chance Winner!

Can we really Trust Voting in the Next Election via the USPS

Comment #2

ThatScaryChick — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 22:23:05 GMT

Oh wow how horrible. I feel bad for her. I would be so angry.

Comment #1

noise-gate — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 21:56:43 GMT

Sue should get a lawyer, even if that is going to costs her $500.00. Send a message

Lottery nightmare: Florida woman's prize is forfeited after postal service loses winning ticket

Lottery Post — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 21:19:44 GMT

Winner doesn't have much hope of claiming her prize after messy debacle

By Kate Northrop

It's every lottery winner's worst nightmare in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic your winning ticket getting lost in the mail. Sadly, that's exactly what happened to a Florida woman whose certified mail containing a ticket worth $1,000 was lost by the U.S. Postal Service. Worse, the Florida Lottery said her prize was forfeited and awarded to someone else.

Since claim offices have closed or limited... [ More ]