Watch Out For "Winning" Scratchers!

You don't have to scratch the scratchers.

The barcode is scanned and shows winner or loser, how much, etc., no scratching required.

Some buy the ticket and immedately present it for scanning, don't bother with all that scratching.

Now they are dispense by machine only (at least in our area), because of that problem.

When I don't feel like scratching, I rub off the code numbers and see if it was a winner. It does save some time and avoids the mess that scratchers make.

This cant be possible. Here in Illinois the bar code is part of the scratch off. If a merchant was able to determine winning tickets before they are scratched off, they would just buy all the winning tickets.

Yes, correct, the bar code has to scan, but not all the little scratchies. For a while the bar code would be rubbed off, as BAGIANT said, and put back in for sale. They've improved the systems now, machine dispensing etc. to prevent it.

Some states are starting to put the code in random spots on the tickets so the dishonest people can't scratch off the code.