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May 16, 2007, 8:27 am (76 comments)
A Florida couple says they have a winning lottery ticket and they want their money, but the the Florida Lottery Commission isn't paying.
Ocala resident Joe Curcio thought he hit the jackpot on a scratch-off ticket that shows a prize of $500,000.
When he tried to claim his prize he received nothing at the lottery office.
Curcio said he bought a legitimate lottery ticket at the Turnpike rest area at Fort Drum.
The state said the ticket had a misprint on it.
Curcio and his family said it's not their fault the ticket has a misprint and that he should be paid what he's owed.
"A deal's a deal," Curcio said.
"I believe there's something wrong with the lottery," Annemarie Curcio said.
The lottery said it prints about 550 million tickets per year and there is the possibility of a misprint.
There are manual, computer and visual checks of tickets submitted for prizes, and the lottery said it uses various layers of security.
It also reminds people that the ticket is printed with a warning that all winnings are subject to verification.
Lottery Post Staff
Just my opinion here, but if I were to draw up a legal contract and it had a misprint on it, I would still be liable for that contract. I don't see any difference here. They should pay for their misprint mistakes and work harder to make sure there aren't anymore. That is, if in fact, it was their fault.
A mighty big disappointment: maybe they still have some recourse.
A Florida newspaper wrote:
Annemarie Curcio said they were robbed.
"My husband gave them a real $20 bill and they gave him a fake ticket," she said.
I agree with the above comments, and if the mistake isn't obvious, I think they should pay. However, there is a disclaimer stating the Lottery isn't responsible for misprints. Now this is where a boycott would really help!! We need gasoline, but everyone in FL could stop buying scratch tickets for a month and write letters protesting the decision. I read another article in that describes the so-called error, and I still can't figure it out. At least these people aren't poor (not that it should matter) but imagine if someone quit his $7 an hour job and drove to Tallahassee, only to discover his winning ticket isn't valid. So here's a lesson...wait until you have the money in your hand first!
I'd like to see a close-up of the ticket. Otherwise, it's difficult to make a judgment. I doubt if this couple would have made the trip to Tallahassee if it didn't look like a legitimate winner.
That's one of the reasons I don't like scratch-offs with large prizes. The state contrives what they think is a fair distribution of winners and where they should come from and if you don't buy your ticket there then you are a loser. Players have the illusion that every ticket could be a winner similar to the tickets of lotteries with drawings. The state probably never planned on anyone turning in a ticket bought at the Turnpike rest area.
Here is a video showing what they consider to be an error. Apparently they did match the numbers, but the 2 letters underneath did not match. Click on "watch video" to view. (don't know if dial-up will work)
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=67738
What a riot! After the news video about this "mishap" there is an ad for a law office.
I have a question for people who buy scratch tickets. The numbers matched and it clearly shows that $500,000 was won. But underneath the first "1" there are 2 letters "th" which stand for thirteen. Is this supposed to be scratched off and removed by the player? If I paid $20 for a scratch ticket and it read "match 2 numbers and win the prize shows" and I matched 2 numbers and saw $500,000 under one of them, I would assume I won too.
I still think they should pay.
If I sound as if I was disagreeing with you, Spy, I wasn't. I only mentioned the disclaimer because it gives them an "out" if they find a problem with the ticket. If I drove to Tallahassee and was told I couldn't collect, I'd be on every local channel and screaming about it. It's interesting that they would prefer all this negative publicity instead of just paying. Obviously, they aren't worried about the effects of this article. BTW, I am almost certain this has happened in FL before. (I'm still wondering if, when you scratch the number, if the letters that represent it show, although most people wouldn't think about it. I might wonder why "th" was under the number "1" (or not!)
i think the florida lotto should pay them because the florida lotto made the misprint and mistake.
Why don't you just click the video link at the bottom of the post? It shows the video without all the ads.
The reason they put "one" underneath the number 1 and "th" underneath the number 13 is because people could either scratch off the 3 and make it a 1 or scratch off the 1 and make it a 3. I've seen people scratch so hard, the only way they can tell if it's a winner on not is to check the barcode.
I suppose those people could take it to court but it's obvious the barcode says it's not a winning ticket.
Duh?
You are right! Thanks for pointing that out Todd.
I would expect to be paid as well.
It will be interesting to see where this goes.......
The quote you're agreeing with is wrong. He paid with a real $20 bill and they gave him a real ticket. Like most tickets, it wasn't a winning ticket. Unlike most tickets, it happens to have been a defective ticket. Also unlike most tickets, he gets to trade his losing ticket for another ticket, or he can have his $20 back. When's the last time anyone here got a losing ticket replaced for free?
Stay tuned- this ain't over .
Your opinion may or may not match the law depending on the circumstances, but a lottery ticket is a product, not a contract. All the law says about defective products is that the merchant or manufacturer has to repair or replace them.
Of course not. I'm guessing the whining will go on for days.
Too bad I deleted my other post. It mentioned several other cases where players received misprinted tickets in FL. It's not as uncommon as I thought, and I don't think anyone ever collected a dime, but they got their $20 back.
I sort of agree with you, but not with the same attitude. I don't think it's whining at all. Sure the Law supports the view of the Lottery. However, many times companies that are protected by disclaimers get sued, don't they?
All the law says about defective products is that the merchant or manufacturer has to repair or replace them.
Were the people who got injured (or killed) compensated when the Firestone tires failed on the SUVs? Just curious. When a child seat fails to protect a baby, does it only have limited liability? I suppose what you were saying is that nobody was injured, so they only had to replace the ticket. If I got that ticket, I'd be having a nervous breakdown so then my family could sue the Florida Lottery for damages!!
Technically, it's not what is printed on the game portion of the ticket that matters. What counts is the ticket ID# (or barcode) number and verification code or codes when compared to the lottery's list of winners. With that in mind, it is best to have all "losing" tickets checked.
This also brings up a question of liability on the part of the ticket printing company, although their liability may be limited only to the cost of the ticket.
Maybe this person could round up a few thousand losing scratch tickets and take them in to a lottery office to be checked, citing that the loser could be a misprint and might actually be a winner..
:)
Funny!
This thing will most likely wind up lawyer vs. lawyer.
reminds me:
What is brown and black and looks good on a lawyer ?
a doberman
what do you call 25,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean ?
a good start
Why do sharks not bite lawyers ?
they don't eat their own
I slay me.....
What is brown and black and looks good on a lawyer ?
a doberman
I zoomed in on the video, I can see what happened. The 1 over the $500,000 is printed correctly but the "1" over the "TH" above was meant to be a "13" with something like "THRTN" or whatever. Somehow the right side of that got blocked. The odds of that happening exactly that way must be enormous in and of itself. I think the Lottery should pay them something, even a smaller prize, unless there are 10,000 other such tickets out there. What happened when they scanned the ticket at the Store, or did they bother to do that? Just ran off to Lottery HQ with it? Understandable, but I'd not do that without validating first at the Store. These scratch-offs are notorious for teasing players, leave you with only one letter missing, or you get a full house but the "champion" gets a royal flush. I play them sparingly because I don't know what the real odds are and I think I have a better shot on Numbers or Lotto.
Florida may print 100 million or more lottery tickets every year. I wouldn't expect misprints to be terribly uncommon, in terms of hearing about them, but a couple hundred out of 100 million is only 1 bad one in 500,000.
Yes, people get sued all the time. Often the plaintiff has a legitimate claim, but too often it's because too many people think that if they suffered some sort of misfortune it must be somebody else's responsibility to make things better for them. Just like the subject at hand. Some guy buys a losing lottery ticket, and because a misprint made him think he won, a lot of people think he should be paid half a million dollars.
What I said about defective products was about problems that simply prevent a product from doing what it was intended to do, not product liability. That should have been clear from the context.
What I said about defective products was about problems that simply prevent a product from doing what it was intended to do, not product liability. That should have been clear from the context.
Yes, I was just being difficult.
This has happened before in the past. I do remember reading news articles on Lottery Post about the same ticket (Gold Rush) having misprints. I've noticed that they do reprint that game because it is popular. With the last batch there was a misprint and on this batch there was a misprint. Anyone see a pattern?
In my honest opinion they should pay. They drove to headquarters (look at gas prices) and the numbers matched. Even if it wasn't a winner the lottery should respect their customers with more than the $20 they got in return.
Now is the Florida lottery trying to just get out of paying is right. How do they know that the mis-print isn't the other way around and the number 1 (one) is correct and the letters under are the mis-print and should have said "one" and thirteen would be thtn I think in WI. all teen numbers in scratch offs are four letters not two. I don't play them that much as I don't feel I win enough to justify spending the money on them, especially in my area I don't see many winning scracth offs sold.
CNN.com has a copy of the misprinted ticket. If ever there was a time for dedicated lottery players to unite and rally around a cause - here you have it! This couple should fight until they prevail. I have no doubt that public sitiment is on their side and if they have the wherewithal to stand, they will emerge victorious!!!!
I think this case indicated an unfair business practice by FL lottery, and people in FL should form a class-action law suit.
FL lottery has multiple layers of security to prevent misprint from claiming prizes, but it did not form same layers of protection to prevent customers from mistakenly throw away winning tickets because of misprint. That is an unfair business practice to cheat on people's money. People in class action should pull out all the FL lottery scratch ticket prize claiming history, sue FL lottery at fault for any unclaimed prizes, and ask FL lottery to pay all those money back to the players.
The way the lottery regulations are written, the validation procedure rules. The couple with the ticket will not get anything except the $20 for the ticket through the courts. However, there is precedent for people taking their case to the legislature which can authorize full payment of the ticket ($500,000) through the legislative process...
duckman
Had you gotten that ticket I'm pretty sure you'd be singing quite a different tune.
For $500,000 I'd imagine you'd be screaming like a banshee (who wouldn't?)
Just my $.02, the lottery shouod pay them, otherwise, the message being sent is indeed, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Justxploring has it right, Floridians should boycott FLA scaratchers for a month, but of course the lottery knows that won't happen.
As good ole attorney Johnny Cochrane would quote in the courtroom:
If thats what the ticket say, you must pay!
Dont't dey have aHaaaaaaaaaaaa
"RECALL"
MOST car companieeeeeeee'sssssssssss..........PAY for MISTAKE's
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Send E-MAIL thank'n your local lottery "fer" L@@K'n out fer "U"!!
Nice that they can arbitrarily decide if something is a 'misprint' or not... how would WE know if they are telling the truth or not ?
They can say the barcode says about anything they want, as far as being 'correct' or not.
"I zoomed in on the video, I can see what happened."
Did you notice that the line under the top row of numbers was partly scratched off so I'm wondering if part of the 3 was scratched off too? I doubt that Florida or any other state lottery will payoff a jackpot on ticket "that looks like" a winner whether it was a misprint or over zealous scratching.
"What happened when they scanned the ticket at the Store, or did they bother to do that?"
I believe they drove straight to the lottery headquarters in Tallahasse, the ticket was scanned there, and called CNN after they were the told the ticket was a misprint.
Probably quite a few tickets get thrown away because people don't carefully check their tickets. If somebody isn't sure they can have the clerk where the bought the ticket (or any lottery terminal) scan it.
How could you prove that unclaimed tickets were mistakenly thrown away because of misprints?
One of the many lessons learned here is that for you scratch off players
in theory all you have to do is choose your ticket and go get the barcode
scanned. If they claim its a looser get your ticket right back and scratch
it off later if you'd like. They try to entertain you with silly games but
get to the point.... did I just choose a winner BARCODE BARCODE BARCODE
Asking for help on words like thats going to determine if they win or not
If lottery winners were decided by a jury then every player with a good lawyer would win.
i travel a lot and in the parking lots of convenience stores people are scratching away. i'd say the majority are addicted so the boycott talk is a waste of time. on the legal end if you're fighting the state and they make the rules it's not impossible but pretty hard to win. if you just have to gamble take $5 buck and pick mega numbers and bank the rest and just avoid the silly scratch offs.
The ticket was never a winner and it only looks like a winner because either the 3 (in 13) wasn't printed on the ticket or it was scratched off. Since both the barcode and the "th" under the number prove it was a 13, I doubt Florida will set a precedent and pay him the jackpot unless they want long lines of people that have figured out ways to remove 0 - 9 and match all the "1s" and expect to be paid too.
The ticket says "If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS match any of the WINNING NUMBERS, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s)". The customer isn't worried about letters and barcodes. If the lottery doesn't want to be help responsible for misprints, they should change it to say "If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters match any of the WINNING NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s) and their corresponding letters". It says right on the ticket if the NUMBERS match, you win. It says nothing about the letters or barcodes, nor is there a disclaimer on the back stating anything about the letters or barcode. You might say that's nit picking, but we're talking about a lot of money. So much money that could change someone's life. Details are extremely important when talking about matters like this and now the FL lottery is just brushing it off like it's no big deal. I hope these people sue not just for the prize, but also for false advertising, lost wages for the time off they took while claiming the ticket, and the gas it took to go to lottery HQ and back.
Associated Press - May 17, 2007 4:33 PM ET
The Florida Lottery is refusing to pay a $$500,000 prize until it can inspect the scratch-off ticket, which officials say appears to be a misprint.
The ticket holder says lottery officials told him the top number was actually a misprinted "13." A lottery spokeswoman says the ticket still needs to be turned over for a full inspection.
"If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters match any of the WINNING NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s) and their corresponding letters".
You didn't mention your experience with scratch-off tickets, but people do actually scratch the numbers off the tickets and the only way to determine if it's a winning ticket is to check the barcode.
According to your logic, if there is a 1 in the prize section of a ticket, all anybody would have to do is find a way to remove the 0-9 from 10-19 and claim they won that prize regardless what the barcode or what the letters under the numbers are.
"You might say that's nit picking, but we're talking about a lot of money."
The only nit-picking I see is being done by a used car salesman (go figure) that probably scratched so hard he removed the 3. What happens when the ticket is inspected and there is evidence the 3 was removed; will the ticket holder be charged with fraud?
And it's also possible by measuring the spacing between the numbers on the top row that it was actually a 1 and they might have to pay him.
Too late to try to remain anonymous but he still has time to line up financial advisers.
I don't think it would be necessary to change the front to say "If any one or more of YOUR NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters match any of the WINNING NUMBERS with THEIR corresponding letters, you win the prize shown below your matching number(s) and their corresponding letters", but I do think there should be a disclaimer on the back of the ticket as well as what the customer should look for in a defective ticket like the one in this story. When talking about the amount of money and number of tickets involved in scratch offs, details need to be at the extreme!
Every lottery ticket I've ever seen says that it is subject to the official lottery rules, or words to that effect.
If the people who aren't smart enough to get out of jury duty are like most of the people here the players wouldn't need a lawyer. They'd just have to sue and wait for their handout. Fortunately we have judges to throw out the cases with no merit.
Are you saying in the eyes of LP members all lottery players are winners until proved other wise? Well WTO and Congrats to all lottery players.
I'm saying that many people here would give money to anyone with a losing lottery ticket and a sob story about why they thought it was really a winning ticket.
people who aren't smart enough to get out of jury duty
I always hear this expression and don't quite understand why it's so common. Jury duty is, well....our "duty" isn't it? Sometimes I've wondered if you're an attorney after reading some of your posts, but I hope that's not true. I'd hate to think we have lawyers with such a negative viewpoint of people serving their communities. Our justice system is far from perfect, but at least we have one where the people can participate in its process. The Constitution of the United States guarantees us this right.
Fortunately we have judges to throw out the cases with no merit.
True, but a lot of the judges shouldn't be on the bench in the first place. One flaw in our system is that it doesn't hold judges accountable for making bad decisions. They throw out a lot of cases "with no merit" like the one where a woman pleaded for protection against her abusive husband and the judged mocked her. Her husband later poured gasoline all over her and set her on fire.
Well, this is a lottery board, so to stay on topic, yesterday I read that Mr. Curcio has hired an attorney. I don't think he has a good case and agree that the ticket isn't valid. However, I also believe he has a right to challenge it. The Lottery did agree to inspect the ticket more carefully and to check for possible alteration, but Mr. Curcio refused to turn it over to them. As DD wrote before, this isn't over yet.
At least give a consolation prize to the guy...They should take out insurance for this kind of events..
That's why i can't stand the lottery....
I think they should pay them. If they don't then maybe they (the people of Florida) should boycott the lottery until they play fair. Let's remember, if it happened once then it will happen again and maybe next time it will happen to you. This is under handed
If lotteries took out insurance to offer a consolation prize to every loser that thought he/she should have won, who do you think would pay for it? Every loser gets a consolation prize, a losing ticket, but most players discard them.
The lotteries always say "You can't win if you don't play", maybe they should add "you can lose either" for those players who don't like to lose.
The Florida Lottery made an official announcement about this case on Friday. I don't think I am allowed to post links to lottery sites, so go to the Florida Lottery web site and click on NEWS if you are interested.
I haven't seen this before, and there have been many misprints, so apparently being a squeaky wheel makes a difference!
By the way, if you take a close look at the ticket, the number 1 doesn't look as if it's positioned correctly. Who knows if he scratched off the number 3? I'm not saying this is the case, but the Lottery (and the newspaper) said he refused to complete a formal claim and submit his ticket for an official inspection. Guess he doesn't trust them. This is turning into a Law & Order episode where the suspect refuses to take a polygraph. LOL
Actually, I completely agree that jury duty is a civic responsibility that everybody should meet. Unfortunately the system is seriously flawed, and the reality is that most people want to avoid jury duty, and with good cause. The last time I had jury duty I was paid $40 a day. The good news is that I didn't have to pay taxes on it, but the bad news is that I had to drive there and pay for parking. Why on earth would I want to do that for a week (never mind getting on a case that lasts for two or three weeks or longer) instead of earning a normal income? If one of my fellow jurors had been a government employee earning 130k they would have been paid about $500 per day for doing the same job. Again, why should I work for less than 10% of what somebody else is paid to do the exact same job?
Then there's the matter of who will actually end up on the jury. If I answer truthfully I will probably never be acceptable to competent lawyers. I'm too smart, too inquisitive and too argumentative, and that generally isn't what lawyers look for in a juror. The ideal juror is somebody who can be persuaded to believe your point of view, and the smarter they are the harder that will be if you don't have a really good case. Of course, there's no such thing as a trial where both sides have a really good case. FWIW (and to bring it back on topic), plenty of lawyers will tell you that for a civil trial seeking damages for an injury, the ideal juror is a blue collar guy who plays the lottery. In the real world, juries often are composed of the people who couldn't escape jury duty. I'll freely admit that "too stupid to get out of jury duty" is a somewhat cynical view of the process, but there's a reason it's a cliche.
Unfortunately, judges aren't perfect either, and that's something that's hard to fix. If you make them too accountable you get judges that are fired for political reasons, and if they serve an elected term or for life you can't get rid if the ones who are bad judges. Of course, what a bad judge is often subject to personal feelings, and without knowing the facts about a case it's impossible to second guess a ruling. Just because an abusive husband later set her on fire doesn't mean the woman had a sound legal case for protection. If she didn't have proof that he was a real danger, his right to be left alone trumps her right to be protected by government interference in his life. It's part of that whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing.
As for the case at hand, until the lottery board gets to examine the ticket and issue a final ruling, they can't officially declare the ticket a loser, and therefore the guy has no case. Right now he's just working on spin for his side.
I must have been lucky because the company I worked for before I retired alway paid the regular salary of employees who serve the community. They wouldn't pay for any overtime opportunity missed. We had people looking for ways to serve the community on company time for the extra pay, even people who worked nights got paid if they were too tire to come to work after serving the community doing the day. I only used the system once and that was when I drove 100 miles to Akron to serve on a Federal jury. I've voted in every election and have never been asked to serve on a local jury and now that I'm retired I hope that doesn't change.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2007
CONTACT: JACQUELINE BARREIROS
(850) 487-7727
WWW.FLALOTTERY.COM
STATEMENT BY THE FLORIDA LOTTERY REGARDING POSSIBLE MISPRINT OF GOLD RUSH TICKET
TALLAHASSEE -- On Monday, May 14, the Florida Lottery learned of a possible printing error on a Florida Lottery GOLD RUSH Scratch-Off ticket. The Florida Lottery is investigating the circumstances of the apparent misprint; however, without possession of the original ticket in question, the Lottery¿s investigation is limited. While preliminary analysis of a photocopy of the ticket seems to indicate that it is a non-winning ticket, a final determination cannot be reached until the player submits a formal claim along with the original ticket.
To safeguard the integrity of Florida Lottery games and to ensure that all valid claims are paid, the Lottery subscribes to standard procedures that must be followed by all persons claiming a prize. These procedures are in place to benefit and protect all of our customers.
Looks like this guy is going to have follow the rules same as any other players if he expects to collect anything.
Just because an abusive husband later set her on fire doesn't mean the woman had a sound legal case for protection. If she didn't have proof that he was a real danger, his right to be left alone trumps her right to be protected by government interference in his life. It's part of that whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing.
I understand what you are saying. Nobody should be able to go to court and simply ask for a restraining or no contact order without valid cause. Believe me, this woman had just cause. I hope in your wildest imagination you don't honestly believe that any man suddenly wakes up one day and decides to set his wife on fire. That's like saying a man decided one day to become a pedophile. It's usually not his first offense..he just hasn't been caught. Do you know how many women and children are murdered because a judge decided a case wasn't serious enough? Women shouldn't have to hide in shelters because a flawed system won't protect them. In some way they are still considered to be property. When is society going to begin looking at men (or women) who stalk or violently beat their spouses as criminals? There's never any excuse for domestic violence. By the way, I'm not a victim so that has nothing to do with this post. If a man ever beat me up, that would be the last time he ever used his arms. I will never understand why a woman (or man) stays in an abusive relationship.
As I said before, this is a lottery board, so I am trying to stay focused on the topic, since there have been complaints about rambling. Nobody knows what really happened except the people who bought the ticket. I'm reading different versions of the same story.
So let me get this straight. The FL lottery wants this guy to give them the ticket so they can "investigate" what went wrong and the guy walks away waiting to hear from them? I don't know about you, but if I was this guy, that ticket wouldn't be leaving my sight! Anything they want to do with the ticket, they can do with me standing right next to them. If this guy hands over the ticket and walks away expecting to hear from them, a week will go by without hearing from them, he'll call them up to see what's going on, and all the FL lottery is going to say "You never gave us the ticket".
"Looks like this guy is going to have follow the rules same as any other players if he expects to collect anything."
Everything we have heard so far has been from the ticket holder and his wife. They probably took the ticket to a gas station, had it scanned, were told it wasn't a winner, showed the clerk the "1" on the top row, the cherk showed them the "th" and were told by the clerk it was a misprint. In the CNN interview the man and his wife both made it a point to mention several times they should be paid because the "1" on the prize row matched the "1" on top row. In a close up he pointed to the "1" on the top while his finger conviently covered the "th" below.
I've never cashed a $500,000 winner, but everytime I've cashed a free ticket, I hand the ticket to the clerk, they scan it, pay me, and keep the ticket. According to the statement by the Florida Lottery, they have never seen the actual ticket.
Should they take his word and write a check or is the Florida Lottery being unreasonable by asking to see the ticket?
(1) This happened in Florida
(2) They are asking a prospective winner to hand the ticket to State employees for verification.
(3) Are these the same people who counted the votes in Palm Beach County in 2000? LOL
Sounds like this guy is trying to pull what that Ohio women Elecia Battle tried back in January of 2004 when she reported her misfortune of losing a lottery ticket worth $162M to the local police and newspapers before going to the lottery office to make a claim. When the real winner, Rebecca Jemison turned in the winning ticket, some thought she should have shared it with Elecia because she told such a convincing sob story and other thought Elecia should had gone to jail for filing a false report..
Should they take his word and write a check or is the Florida Lottery being unreasonable by asking to see the ticket?
Wouldn't it be nice if lotteries accepted letters from players that read:
Sir,
Your terminal has made a big mistake, I bought a $20 ticket which I think is worth $500,000 and it does not agree. I have discussed this with my wife and a reporter from CNN, both which I trust completely and they think you should send me a check for a half million dollars. I await your check after which I will send you the ticket for inspection and verification. If I don't hear from you soon, I will seek the advice of a lawyer.
Thank you.
If this guy hands over the ticket and walks away expecting to hear from them, a week will go by without hearing from them, he'll call them up to see what's going on, and all the FL lottery is going to say "You never gave us the ticket".
Guru, I doubt if this would ever happen. There isn't a big conspiracy going on here. Also this story has already gotten so much publicity, it would only be in their best interest to pay the claim if it's a legitimate ticket.
Are these the same people who counted the votes in Palm Beach County in 2000? LOL
You cracked me up here.. lol
I agree with you Guru. If they cannot investigate without the ticket or with me standing right there than I don't trust it. It's like all you need is the barcode number anyway.
Official announcement by the Florida Lottery:
"STATEMENT BY THE FLORIDA LOTTERY REGARDING POSSIBLE MISPRINT OF GOLD RUSH TICKET
TALLAHASSEE -- On Monday, May 14, the Florida Lottery learned of a possible printing error on a Florida Lottery GOLD RUSH Scratch-Off ticket. The Florida Lottery is investigating the circumstances of the apparent misprint; however, without possession of the original ticket in question, the Lottery¿s investigation is limited. While preliminary analysis of a photocopy of the ticket seems to indicate that it is a non-winning ticket, a final determination cannot be reached until the player submits a formal claim along with the original ticket.
To safeguard the integrity of Florida Lottery games and to ensure that all valid claims are paid, the Lottery subscribes to standard procedures that must be followed by all persons claiming a prize. These procedures are in place to benefit and protect all of our customers.
Last year alone, the Lottery's instant ticket vendor, Scientific Games, printed well over 500 million Florida Lottery Scratch-Off tickets. While the very nature of any mechanical printing process can never guarantee one hundred percent accuracy - whether you are speaking of newspapers or currency - similar incidents are extremely rare. However, in anticipation of these rare occurrences, the Lottery and its vendor have adopted redundant validation methods to properly identify winning tickets and avoid misprints. In an abundance of caution, the Lottery has also undertaken an immediate and comprehensive review to ensure the continued integrity of our games and confidence of the playing public.
We are extremely proud of our record of paying every valid claim for all winning tickets the Lottery has produced in its 19-year history. In fact, the very foundation of the Lottery's ability to raise funds for education rests solely on the trust our players have in playing our games. To ensure fairness and equity for all players, the Lottery must ensure that the established rules are followed and that prizes are paid only on legitimate winning tickets. That trust is based on two principles: first, that all lottery profits go to education; and, second, that all prize claims are paid for every valid winning ticket."
http://flalottery.com/inet/currentNewsContent.do?searchID=194023
I THINK>>>>>>>LOTTERY SHOULD>>>>>"PAY"
or get a printer WHO CAN..............PRINT..............DARN-it!!!!!!!!!
I'm>>MAD....as HELL>>
Mr or Ms ........................LOTTERY COMMISSIONER
In some places your employer is required to pay you your regular salary while serving jury duty if the company has some minimum number of employees. If your company paid people for doing volunteer work they were unusually generous.
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS/205160332/1025/news
Annemarie Curcio said they were robbed.
"My husband gave them a real $20 bill and they gave him a fake ticket,"
Apparently Mrs. Curcio hasn't bought a lot of lottery tickets if she thinks a $20 lottery tickets that wins nothing is fake.
Either pay the man and his wife or get out the lottery buiness, End Of story!!
Have their been any new developments on this story since it broke, does anyone know ?
I was wondering that too because it was everywhere in the news for a couple of days. Nothing has been said since the Florida Lottery asked to examine the ticket so the News people probably backed off because the circumstances changed.
Maybe somebody explained to those people (and they finally understood) why the "th" is placed under the "13". If you remove all the latex from the scratch-off area, most tickets have a 3 letter code like "ONE", "FIV", or "TEN" that shows how much it's worth if it's a winner. I've seen "FTY" and "HUN", but have no idea of what "$500,000 looks like.
I imangine it would say 5 mill, like I have seen 1 mill, 2.5 mil 1.5 mill under the number.
I'm still scratching my head wondering if they got it or not. I'm just itching to find out. I'm not trying to rub anyone the wrong way, but I am curious.
I can't put my finger on it either, Pac.
At least there hasn't been a rash of these type things.
I like rash...I was gonna use it..LOL
Put my finger on it...LOL