I know this is going to sound crazy but I still did not cash the 50 thousand dollar ticket yet. Also I have been playing for 5 !/2 years or so and I never cashed in any of my winning tickets and there is a logical reason for this. I need the money so I did not want to cash it in until the time came that I needed it. I will need the money for something in February, so I called the lottery office to see how to go about doing this because there are over 1000 tickets that are verified winners that I know of and about 25 that I could not scratch that I have to send to Albany to have them verified and paid out. All together I have about 100 thousand including the 50 grand ticket. Lotto told me that the 50 grand ticket gets taxed at a rate of 33.4 % something like 16 thousand for taxes and they take it out before they give a check. The accountant said I can show 50 grand in loses but there is still a small tax that I have to pay and will not get back. I should get about 47 thousand after I file my taxes. The other tickets do not get taxed and I am still waiting to see if they will pay cash out for them or checks. I would rather cash out actually.
I spoke to a retailer and they said the game is still going strong. There are about 2-3 hundred thousand tickets still out there for sale. The chances of the last winner to be in that batch are unlikely. I have not gotten the last of the foil results on destroyed and stolen tickets yet. I assume that it is around 4 hundred thousand or so. Like I said either someone threw it out by accident or it got destroyed or stolen. I have written the commissioner of Lottery and we are talking about trying to come to terms with reselling tickets that would ordinarily get destroyed. Come to find out that lottery does not disperse the tickets the company that makes them sends them out. same with the destroyed tickets they go right to the company not to the lottery office. We would have to come up with a plan for a system for the company to resend them out which is almost a logistical nightmare. My suggestion is the Aqueduct casino because they sell tickets at an unbelievable alarming rate more than anywhere else. This way the tickets would get sold fast and it would be easy to maintain and keep track of.
I think my only question or hope is that if the top prize ticket also has a lower tier prize than there could be a chance I have it but I was told no not at all. The tickets I cannot scratch I am going to send in and maybe by the small chance it could be a top prize also. Some of those tickets are 3 years old with 300 numbers series. If by the slightest chance I ever did win i would report it out here just because I have been part of this group sharing information all along. Lets see what happens. I am going to buy more next week when I get home. I am still hopeful hey you never know.
Sam