Maybe instead of calling in the lawyers he should ask Tony Soprono if he'll make the lottery an offer they can't refuse.

Lottery spokesman John Charlson is blaming a "rare" printing issue for the mix-up, admitting an ink problem affected 4,500 tickets, which have had to be withdrawn. <<<< That statement in it's self should have been what happen to the whole run of tickets for that game! No excuse for anything less than to be done to avoid this type of thing that is about to happen to the New York Lottery! You see if they destroyed 4500 tickets then they should have destroyed the whole run and started over after the problem was fixed! Precedence has been set by them admitting they destroyed 4500 of the run because of the printing issue! And the courts/jury will see it the same way and hold the lottery accountable for their inability to use common sense! (As I see it 5 million would be a tidy sum to make the NY Lottery get some common sense for once in their pitiful existence.)

This is one reason why I dislike scratch off tickets. It's too easy for printing errors and other mistakes to occur. And if you believe you have won something, they can say, "Nope it was just a printing error."

And what if there were more big money winning tickets among the 4500 tickets they destroyed. I guess that doesn't matter to the lottery.

Sorry Vinny this really really bites. I hope you do bring them to their knees!

Once I got a lotto ticket out of a machine and there were only two numbers on the ticket the others where not even there so there were 4 spaces invisible not a thing where numbers should have been. ___  ___ 23 ___ 42 ___ 

Didnt know what the hell to do with that ticket, maybe fill in the blanks myself!!!

Time to go to the mattressess Vinny....

"Those lottery officials are pimps,,,they never could have out fought Santino!!!!"

Someone is gonna get whacked!

you dont mess with the sopranos they are all about bussiness you might get hurt

NOTE TO SELF*

Next time I "think" I have a winning ticket....blow it up to billboard size just to make sure so I don't look like an ass.

WHAT>>EVER! I would so make them lottery people "swim with the fishes"

Give em da money!!!

Scratchers are like checks. The numbers that matter are printed twice, once as numbers and a second time as words.  If the number he thinks is a 1 doesn't say "one" under it, then it's not a 1. Thinking you won doesn't mean squat when your ticket isn't really a winner.

I agree 100%.  For them to allow 4500 tickets to be sold with a known error that could indicate false positives...I say they should eat this one and pay the man the money.

$5,000,000 to the NY Lotto is POCKET CHANGE.  I believe it is an appropriate penalty for their incompetence in not preventing these tickets from being delivered to the end buyer.  It will be a message to other lotteries to GET IT RIGHT when they print their tickets.  God forbid a single mother on welfare with 4 kids get this ticket and believe her prayers had been answered.

"You know what I look like after telling everybody I won? I look like some big ass."

Then just shaddupa you face!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFacWGBJ_cs

When I read this it reminded me of the scene in goodfellas where Frankie Carbone is saying he can't hit a number.  LOL

Frankie Carbone: I could never hit that number
[unintelligible]
Tommy DeVito: Frankie, Frankie, Frankie. What the f... does 528 have to do with 460? I can't believe this guy. F...in' 528 ain't even close to 460. Now what the f... does that got to do with anything?
Frankie Carbone: Eh, I been playin' that numba for three years

Normally, I would say tough luck, but they acknowledged that the tickets were defected and allowed them to be sold anyway. 4500 of them, and those suckers cost $20 each. That's $90,000 worth of defected tickets. That's way too much. I hope he wins in this case.

This happened in Florida twice before.

VINNY WILL WIN  either 5 MIL, OR  100 MILLION- minus fees( 35%)   so  its  5  or 65   ny lottery will loose

i don't understand, don't they let the computer do this? Computers don't maker errors, they can't possibly make errors...Why don't they let the computer take over the situation....

That's exactly what they did, Pumpi.  It's not a winner, but the man who bought the ticket is upset because it appeared to be one when he scratched it.  This has happened before as someone pointed out in another post.  The bottom line is, when they scan the ticket, that's what they use to determine the outcome.  There will always be printing errors, so people need to check everything on a scratch ticket carefully.  Personally, I don't buy them.

They shoped this on the news, and the news report said they can't show a lottery ticket (didn't explain why not) so they showed an artist's rendition.

This is kind of flaky, but underneath the numbers on this ticket, where the numbers are writtne out, the written out number said SEVTN. Vellas was saying change that T to an E and it spells SEVEN and that was the misprint, that it was a 7.

When I saw this I checked an Illinois scratcher and if the number is 17 it is written SVTN.

So let me get this straight - regardless of the error on this particular ticket, everyone, including the lottery says even if it prints the correct winning number where you scratch, it could be an error.  And they won't pay.

Suppose the error looks like a losing ticket where you scratch?  But the code number below shows your ticket to be a big winner.  How are you supposed to ever know it wasn't a loser?  No one I know has every ticket scanned.

I think lotteries should pay for any and all legitimate printing errors.  "Legitimate" errors that actually have a winning number shown where you scratch.   They should be accountable for those kinds of mistakes.   I have no idea how to solve my question concerning an error in favor of the player when it is in the code numbers.

I agree. In a way it's like a car accident. If you hit another car, even if it was an accident, you're still the one at fault, and you still have to pay. It's the lottery's responsibility to make sure the lowest amount of defected tickets are sold. They neglected to do that, thus they have committed negligence. You can still forget whatever legal disclaimers they have or the letters that are under the numbers; negligence still remains. I would be upset too if I spent $20 on a defected ticket to find out I didn't win anything.

........after officials at a state lottery office refuted his claims, insisting one of the sevens was actually a number 17.

The official also pointed out an abbreviation underneath the numeral to dispel any further queries.

Vinny argued that the 17 looked like a 77 because of the ink over run but just like any document of value, like a regular check for example, both the printed numbers and the written numbers have to agree.  That's not a new rule made up to deny him a prize,  that rule has alway applied to everyone who buys a scratch-off tickets.  He doesn't have an argument.

RJ

He doesn't have an argument.

I did say "regardless of the error on this particular ticket."  You are probably right about this particular case. 

If you read the article again, maybe you'll notice that they didn't sell 4500 tickets that were known to be defective. They knew there was a problem with 4500 tickets, so they weren't sold. No matter how careful they are there will always be some errors. That's one of the reasons that the numbers are printed as numerals and as words. You can hope as much as you want, but he will lose.

I think the example of a check is a good analogy.   Someone might go to a bank hoping a check is really for $455.00   If it says Forty-five and 50/100 dollars then it's not $450.00.   

If the number you scratch says "7" and below it is printed svtn or whatever to indicate seventeen, then it is like a check.   They should give the person back their money though - or replace the ticket.

If the number you scratch says "7" and below it is printed seven - and the code number that the lottery looks at says it is not a winner - they should pay.   My argument is, if everything looks right to the consumer but the only way to tell a ticket is a loser is in the secret code number - the lottery should pay regardless if they say there was some error.   

I agree with you, but I'm sort of in the dark here, because it's been a long time since I've purchase a scratch-off.  Has that ever happened?

Jimmy should get paid,if there were mistakes made on the winning tickets, just think how many losers have been thrown away that was winners it works both ways.NONE of the lotterys have ever acknowledge that they
misprints on losing tickets.   it never happens

I don't play Scratch off tickets. I only play ball machine drawings.

what I have a problem with, is that the lottery officials mistakes are not just limited to scratch offs.

I wonder how many drawing errors they have made in the Powerball and Megamillions.

I remember one misdraw myself. had I have had those numbers that originally came up that draw and the lottery officials refused to pay me. you can believe that we would have been going to court!

wether or not I would have won the argument is debateable, but I bet it would have made some headlines.

Sis and I had a 5 million dollar winning instant lifetime riches game 540 NJ ticket Aug 2006 at QuickCheck.  We did not secure it.  It wound up in the hands of our township and was cashed in by those to whom we turned for help.  The police refused to take a lost ticket report unless we could positively say it was stolen and not AWOL.  We at first believed it had been found on our property instead of in our property.  Some one had been stalking us.  We spent two years trying to reclaim it.  we even had a pot of us purchasing some tickets at the counter.  Confiscated. Our home was arsoned shortly after pointing the finger, we were robbed, our temp home was vandelized and robbed, our temp phone was put on a dialer into 911 for over a month and sis and I were hauled out by 4 cops there and a screener from the county for allegedly making criminal hang up 911 calls two weeks after 6 phone repair men tried to find the problem, sis had a heart attack from the harassemnt and I was held for 5 days while she remained in the hospital, neither of us made these calls, so what, our home was left unfinished after we moved back, our home has been robbed twice since by repair men paid to steal from us, and our 55 year old pine tree was chopped in parts to allow view to our home, our alarm was shut off and an unpickable lock somehow found a master key to unlock the door, we proved it was our ticket, but NJL refuses to pay and even still says it did not exist, the figures they acknowledge about the total number of tickets sold and printed does not add up and we are being harassed still by those that be.  Cop cars traverse our quiet street  constantly now and sis who is left side paralyzed has nightmares  about being removed again from our home.  We went up and down the legal ladder to no avail.  Everyone knew what had happened.   Even though it said we were a winner in their internal computer after an audit, no money- no ticket in hand no prize.  If the figures and the words do not match, there is no hope even for a movie star.  We lost everything almost because we tried to buck the big boys who want to bury two women on Social Secuity.  it is an unfortunate thing that happened to you and more unfortunate for us.  Good luck.  Don't be put off by the smart alek replies to your tale of woe.  That is what makes the evening for some. 

That was the funniest youtube I have ever seen.. Thanks for sharing.   I still get kicks out of hearing it.

where can this story be located?