So I believe it's time to share an interesting personal story with everyone here now that the smoke has cleared.
Roughly 2 years ago.. early in the morning I went to a convenient store to buy a coffee and a $10 scratch ticket. The coffee was a usual for me and I went into that store many times to get coffee. However I normally do not buy $10 scratch tickets.
I purchased a 10,000,000 Blockbuster ticket or something to the sort and brought my coffee and ticket back to my car with me.
It was early in the morning and I was a bit sleepy. I first scratched off only the numbers of my "Winning numbers" and then proceeded to scratch off again, only the numbers, of the tickets. (No prizes)
As I got to the last number on the ticket I had no other numbers that matched. As i scratched the last spot I noticed that I received a Star. I quickly got excited and scratched off the prize and noticed that it was $100. I was very excited since that was the most I had ever won on any scratch ticket.
I wipped out my cellphone and took a picture of the front of the ticket to show my buddies and brag and I went in gave the ticket to the guy that I had known and spoke to for about 5 years. He quickly looked at the ticket and said.. "Hey it's your lucky day' and opened the cash register and gave me a 100 bucks.
I noticed that he didn't scan the ticket like he normally does to see what the prize isbut i was excited and didn't think much of it. I asked for another 10 dollar ticket and I lost and I was done for the day being ahead.
Now flash forward almost 6 months to the day.. I was feeling a little depressed and figured why not try my luck again at a 10 dollar ticket. So i bought the same blockbuster ticket and this time I lost. I however scratched all the prizes off and started reading the ticket more closely and noticed that it said if i get a star I not only get the prize shown but all 10 prizes.
As i stared at the losing prizes on my ticket i quickly got a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. $200,000 for life... etc.. were on the losing ticket.
I thought to myself "I'm sure i had a star". So It was easy enough to check.. I flipped open my cell phone and loaded up the picture. I zoomed in and it was deffinately a Star that I had.
At this point i was starting to get very nervous. I called a family friend and I printed a full color copy of my picture and took it with me to the Lottery office.
I told my story to the lady at the front and she looked at the ticket and said "well you deffinately won more than a 100 dollars but we can't tell what the prizes were because you didn't take a picture of the back of the ticket"
i think to myself "Well if i had known i was going to get ripped off I would have"
Anyhow.. she tells me that my best luck would be to go to the store and see if the guy remembers the situation and maybe he can help. Again, I think to myself "This guy totally ripped me off there is no way he's going to help".
So I drive back and a little angry go into the store to see if the guy is there. I walk in and another younger kid is working there and i start looking around and look at all the copies of the winning tickets they have Hanging on top of the counter..
And what do you know! the bastard hung up a black and white copy of MY TICKET with the exact numbers.. my scratch pattern.. and now with all the prizes scratched off as well as the infamous "VOID IF REMOVED".
By the way. it was 1000 dollars. So i ask the kid if i can have that copy and he looks and me and says yea sure..
So i grab it and walk out never looking back.. Now remember.. I have my color copy of the ticket.. wth a time stamp on my cell phone of exactly when i took the picture.. and now i hav ea black and white copy of the ticket.
I go back to the lottery office and they pass me to someone else who hears my story and gets very excited.. He tells me that this is the first time a Cellphone has ever been used in a lottery investigation in My state and that as long as my story is true he'll work hard to get me my money.
He asked me if i was willing to write down my testimony right there and I said "yea sure". So i started writing what i've been writing to you guys.. and while i'm doing this.. this guy is bringing me lottery gear. like hats, shirts.. numbers scratchers.. mugs.. it was actually kind of funny.
So after everything is done.. I leave and don't hear back from him for about a month.
I call back to see what's going on and the guy says that the investigation is looking good for me and to make sure not to go in the store to tip off the guy in any way. I told him I hadn't and do not plan on it.
So another couple of weeks go buy and i get a phone call early morning from a detective telling me that he's in the area and If i can meet him at the store in 10 minutes.
I'm shocked because I thouht they were going to figure all of this out on their own and just give me money. But i said I'll be there and went down to the store and met up with him and another detective.
We go into the store and the det. asked me if the person working the register was the one that sold me the ticket and I said "No, the main boss sold me the ticket" so the det. tells the kid.. "hey why don't you call your boss up and tell him to come here it's pretty important".
Hope you guys that are reading this are interested so far..
anyhow.. so the guy comes in and the first thing the det asks him is "do you know this young man?" and he says "ofcourse, he comes in here all the time.. i know his father as well"
and Bam...... he just f'd himself.. Now he can't say that he'd never seen me and that the whole ticket thing was an accident and once he saw the ticket was a winner he didn't know where to find me.
and man.. the detective bring out the history of this ticket.. they tell him it was cashed 2 minutes after I took the picture with my cellphone (time stamp) and they asked him if he knew some guy "john something" who cashed the ticket and he said he did. So basically this fool ripped me off.. found out the ticket was worth 1000 2 minutes after i left then had some guy down the street cash it and then Sign over the ticket to him.
Ha so they keep asking the guy "so do you remember now what happend?" and each time he said no they bring out a new piece of evidence. it was actually somewhat halarious.
anyhow so they tell him this. "why don't you give him his $900 now and it will look good for you at your trial because you WILL have a trial"
ha.. so the guy.. still claiming he doesn't doesn't remember.. quickly wips out a moneyclip full of hundreds and gives me 900 on the spot.
anyhow. so to make a long story a lil bit shorter.. I never went into teh store again.. and after about a week I no longer saw scratched off tickets on the ground near there.
after about 4 months i saw that he put a sign up saying "We are now again selling lottery tickets"
From now on i make sure I always scratch off everything and sign the back if i ever win.
Hope everyone enjoyed my true life story and everyone good luck on tonights drawing. My office and I have 64 tickets ( and i have one for myself as well).
So i guess a total of 66/135,000,000.. ;)
Kam