A few months ago on a Friday night, I stopped on my way home at the local liquor store down the street. I bought 4 $5 Set For Life scratchers and took them home. While playing in one of my nightly tournaments,I started scratching them.
Much to my surprise, 3 out of the 4 scratchers were $10 winners. That was a nice treat! The non winner I entered in the 2nd chance drawing.
The next morning, I stopped by the liquor store to collect my winnings. The clerk scanned the bar code and entered the 3 numbers on the ticket that determine the winners. When he told me that I had won $20, I told him he had to be wrong as I won $30. He told me I DID, but that one ticket had been cashed already. I told him that wasn't possible because I had just bought them last night and hadn't been back there since. He showed me that the ticket said, "Already cashed by you." WTF!!! I thought about it for a few seconds, then realized that if it was already "cashed", the retailer would have had to keep the ticket in order to be reimbursed for the payout! When I pointed this fact out to him, he just shrugged his shoulders and told me to take it up with the lottery commission.
Well that's exactly what I did...4 times!!! I went on their website and sent them and sent them an email where I scanned both the winning ticket...front and back....and the retailers ticket showing that the ticket had already been paid. At first I got back a standard email that they send to people that I should recheck the ticket and make sure all "stuff" that comes off when you scratch the scratcher is not covering any numbers.
When I wrote them back that they aren't solving the problem, I got no answer. When I finally emailed them again and sent the scan AGAIN... I got back the same standard email from them again!!!
Finally, just last week, I emailed them again, but this time I DEMANDED to know....since the ticket was cashed.....WHERE AND WHEN it was cashed. That seemed like a logical approach! I still haven't gotten an answer from them, although it is really simple for them to look up this information. All the tickets were in numerical order like they're supposed to be. xxxxxx-25, 26, 27, 28. All tickets were bought at the exact same time.
I just wonder how the lottery commission can let this happen. But I've seen at screw ups by them happen at least twice before. As I've said before, I enter my losing tickets on the website for a 2nd chance drawing. If you overlook something and have a winner rather than a loser, it will let you know. Twice when I've entered the ticket numbers, it told me I might have a winner. But I checked both tickets again over and over, and neither was a winner. So I decided to take it down to the retailer and see what he showed. Well, what he showed both times was a winner for a free ticket. Just goes to show you that you should double check these things before you throw them out!
Much to my surprise, 3 out of the 4 scratchers were $10 winners. That was a nice treat! The non winner I entered in the 2nd chance drawing.
The next morning, I stopped by the liquor store to collect my winnings. The clerk scanned the bar code and entered the 3 numbers on the ticket that determine the winners. When he told me that I had won $20, I told him he had to be wrong as I won $30. He told me I DID, but that one ticket had been cashed already. I told him that wasn't possible because I had just bought them last night and hadn't been back there since. He showed me that the ticket said, "Already cashed by you." WTF!!! I thought about it for a few seconds, then realized that if it was already "cashed", the retailer would have had to keep the ticket in order to be reimbursed for the payout! When I pointed this fact out to him, he just shrugged his shoulders and told me to take it up with the lottery commission.
Well that's exactly what I did...4 times!!! I went on their website and sent them and sent them an email where I scanned both the winning ticket...front and back....and the retailers ticket showing that the ticket had already been paid. At first I got back a standard email that they send to people that I should recheck the ticket and make sure all "stuff" that comes off when you scratch the scratcher is not covering any numbers.
When I wrote them back that they aren't solving the problem, I got no answer. When I finally emailed them again and sent the scan AGAIN... I got back the same standard email from them again!!!
Finally, just last week, I emailed them again, but this time I DEMANDED to know....since the ticket was cashed.....WHERE AND WHEN it was cashed. That seemed like a logical approach! I still haven't gotten an answer from them, although it is really simple for them to look up this information. All the tickets were in numerical order like they're supposed to be. xxxxxx-25, 26, 27, 28. All tickets were bought at the exact same time.
I just wonder how the lottery commission can let this happen. But I've seen at screw ups by them happen at least twice before. As I've said before, I enter my losing tickets on the website for a 2nd chance drawing. If you overlook something and have a winner rather than a loser, it will let you know. Twice when I've entered the ticket numbers, it told me I might have a winner. But I checked both tickets again over and over, and neither was a winner. So I decided to take it down to the retailer and see what he showed. Well, what he showed both times was a winner for a free ticket. Just goes to show you that you should double check these things before you throw them out!
