Ocala, FL United States
Member #79,585
September 4, 2009
2 Posts
Offline
Hello All
I am new to the board. My father, Joe Curcio was the guy who had the Gold Rush ticket that was a $500K winner, that the state of Florida claimed to be a misprint. We need some help or ideas to get a lawyer. We have tried so many in the years now and no one in Florida wants to go against the state. Everyone always tells us if we can get into court we will win no doubt, but so far we can't. Any ideas or suggestions please let me know. Thanks in advance.
Kentucky United States
Member #32,651
February 14, 2006
10,302 Posts
Offline
Quote: Originally posted by mcurcio2002 on Sep 4, 2009
Hello All
I am new to the board. My father, Joe Curcio was the guy who had the Gold Rush ticket that was a $500K winner, that the state of Florida claimed to be a misprint. We need some help or ideas to get a lawyer. We have tried so many in the years now and no one in Florida wants to go against the state. Everyone always tells us if we can get into court we will win no doubt, but so far we can't. Any ideas or suggestions please let me know. Thanks in advance.
Matt
I remember reading a story about a Florida ticket that appeared to be a jackpot winner but wasn't. If I recall correctly the number was suppose to be 13 because "thirteen" was printed below the number but the "3" wasn't there from either a misprint or because it was rubbed off. There was a picture of the ticket and the number "1" was offset as the first digit of a number in the teens.
In some states the lotteries have ticket scanners that say if the ticket is a winner and I've seen players scan the tickets to find out if they are winner before scratching; they just scratch off the ticket to see how much they one. Had your dad done that first, the ticket would not have been a winner so basically he's thinking about going to court to prove that a losing ticket was actually a winning ticket because that's how it appeared to him after scratching.
The lawyers for the lottery will show the safe guards used such as printing "thirteen" underneath the number "13", the bar code, and the ticket serial number that is revealed after that area is scratched off and how that number is used. I think it's more likely the lawyers you talked to don't believe they can prove it's a winning ticket than not wanting to go against the state.
Ocala, FL United States
Member #79,585
September 4, 2009
2 Posts
Offline
If you would of gotten the ticket you would of though you were a winner. There was never a three there, all safe guards and security lines were there, it was not rubbed off. There is two cases in NY right now with the same issue, both people are going to win against the state. The ticket was a misprint but who knows what is the misprint, maybe this bar code in the back was the misprint? Thanks for your postive post.
Jacksonville Florida United States
Member #23,017
October 6, 2005
1,111 Posts
Offline
The laws governing state lotteries usually dictate that the ticket validation codes are what determine winners, not any matching play numbers or symbols in the play area. In fact some state lottery regulations will have language that says something to the effect that the scratch "game" itself (scratching off the prize numbers and symbols) are "for entertainment purposes only". That also means if a rare situation arose where no numbers matched prizes and the ticket appeared to be a loser then if the validation codes matched, it would be a winner (some states may require that both codes and prizes match or the ticket is deemed a misprint and the only liability the lottery has is to refund the purchase price of the ticket).
For example, Oregon has their Lottery rules online and take a look at Page 2 the 4th paragraph - starts with "(2) To determine a winning ticket":
To the OP: it all depends on the exact wording of Florida's lottery regulations. It sounds like they are calling it a misprint because the validation codes do not match with the winning list stored in the lottery computer system and therefor it is a misprint (which means their only liability is to refund the purchase price of the ticket).