I just want to add as I am thinking everything over ... as it happened last May and yesterday.
Everything happens so fast when you already have money in the self-serve terminal. If you are playing a card or play slip with numbers already filled out or no numbers filled out, just QPs ... that was what I did in May.
Sometimes I take a play slip and just mark 3, 4, or 5 QPs ... no numbers played at all, just the QP boxes marked. Last May I had a Cash 5 card filled out for four QPs.
Yesterday, I had a Treasure Hunt card filled out for three sets of numbers for one draw only.
I was wrong in my first post about checking the ticket first in the terminal window. This DOES NOT happen with play slips. This is where it gets messy or really bad ... a person with a large amount of money already in the machine can really get burned using play slips, if that terminal is not working properly.
Ron5995 is right ... if you always input your numbers or pick QPs on the terminal screen ... then you will always see the ticket in the terminal window before you hit Purchase. So buying tickets that way (in PA for sure) should not be a problem.
So when you already have a large amount of money in the terminal and you run a play slip ... this is where the problem is.
First you insert the play slip ... it goes in fast and comes back out fast, after being scanned. Then the ticket is printed ... you have no idea what numbers you are actually getting or how much money has been taken away ... till you look at the printed ticket. Buying tickets that way "can be" dangerous ... you have no chance to check anything ... no ticket in the terminal window, it just prints and may take more money than what you had planned to spend.
As Ron said ... if a person always inputs their numbers or QPs on the terminal screen then you do get the chance to check everything out before you purchase the ticket.
OK, so I never use play slips anymore with self-serve terminals ... they are handy for some games and quick but you are taking a chance on how much money the terminal may actually take away.
This is not good for the player, but I will have to use play slips only at a lottery terminal with a "human being" and never in a self serve terminal ... only input your numbers yourself at a self serve terminal.
Ron may well be right about all the scratch off material or flakes being inside the machine and messing with the card scanner or there may be some sort of software problem with the terminals ... but Ron may be correct in the end.
So in closing ... maybe the safe thing to do is "never" use play slips in self-serve terminals or put small amounts of money in so you won't lose $10 or $20 ... more than what you were planning to spend. The ticket will not print and you get a "heads up" that something is wrong.
If a person cashed a $100 winner and left the money in the terminal ... and then inserted a Match 6, MM or PB play slip for only one draw ... a person might be charged for 10 to 20 draws ... I think PA can go 26 drawings into the future (not 100% sure about that), so you might lose much of your $100 when you only wanted to spend $2.
CW