What is scary is how many people believe their photocopies will be accepted by the lottery as proof they own it in the event something happens to their ticket. If i had a large winning ticket i would still make a copy, but i would in no way expect my photocopy without the original to serve as validation in order to claim the prize or serve as proof that i am the rightful owner of the ticket because of the following
Hoosier Lottery states:
A ticket is the only valid proof for play and the only valid proof of receipt for claiming a prize.
A valid ticket must originate from the lottery commission.
Another is counting on proving you are the owner because the camera shows you purchasing the ticket. Thing is, there is no law that says that lottery tickets are only valid to the purchaser. One quick example is giving a ticket as a gift prior to the drawing and that is perfectly legal. Two people come to the lottery, one who is in possession of the winning ticket says they were given it as a gift, another says hey i bought it i am the owner just look at the camera you will see i purchased it. Who does the lottery believe? he said she said. So given there is no law that says only the purchaser can be the rightful owner, trying to make your case through showing you purchased the ticket on the camera is groundless. This is why the lottery clearly states the correct means of how to establish ownership, because the camera is not one of them given. Unless fraudulent activity can be proven which would be very very hard to do in such situations, the person in possession of a ticket that does not bear another's name other then their own is the deciding factor. There is no law that says a purchaser can not, prior to drawing, transfer (give) their ticket to someone else.
Marking your ticket is not going to help you either, and if anything, just might cause your ticket to be invalid. My lottery encourages to not soo much as use a highlighter on a ticket when i asked and indicated that all tickets should be free of markings, blemishes and the such or it could be rendered invalid and i was told it happens. Whose fingerprints and such that are on a ticket in no way validates who the owner of a ticket is. Unless there is proof that fraud has been committed, the possessor of a blank ticket or whose signature is on the ticket stands.
Honestly with self ticket scanners now in retailers and of course camera's watching, i really see the dishonest clerk issue the least to be concerned with.. What i see is easily dropping a ticket among your tickets in the parking lot or driving down the road and one blows out while on your cellphone, a ticket accidentally slipping out your purse while your digging for your wallet at the grocery (if your purse is anything like mine and serves as a suitcase Yikes!!) and so on.
At the end of the day if the lottery does not have proof that fraudulent activity took place, their final decision will stand because they did tell a player the proper way to establish ownership and this is what they are gonna point to when they say sorry, there is nothing more we can do and not enough proof to prove otherwise. We put it on the website and we put on the tickets, had you signed it you would have established ownership.