By Todd Northrop
A Massachusetts man thought he won a $1 million lottery prize until he realized the ticket he had was a misprint.
Paul Pasquarosa of Boston, Massachusetts, was overjoyed when he learned that his Cashword scratch-off lottery ticket had matched three red words, which equals a million-dollar prize.
But luck for the father of two quickly faded when the ticket was determined to be defective.
Instead of becoming a millionaire, Mr. Pasquarosa was in possession of one of the 2,200 tickets for the game that had a misprint.
It was tough news for Mr. Pasquarosa, who is unemployed.
"I'm looking at it; I have three red words. It says three red words wins a million dollars. I called my son and told him things were gonna be OK," Pasquarosa said.
So he was devastated to find out he didn't win anything.
He had three red words — which equals a million on the prize key, but the ticket was defective.
Pasquarosa's lawyer, George Miller, took a look at the ticket. "At first glance I believe this gentleman won a million, but on a closer inspection I saw there was an offset in the printing. Mr. Pasquarosa was not just disappointed, but visibly ill."
Officials with the lottery confirmed that there was a printing error, and they had attempted to remove the 2,200 misprinted tickets from the circulation of 20 million for the game. Unfortunately for Mr. Pasquarosa, they apparently did not remove all the misprinted tickets.
Paul believes that one lesson to be learned from his experience is to always check your ticket before you leave the store. At the same time, he believes the lottery should take responsibility to selling defective tickets.
"Someone should be liable," Pasquarosa said. "They didn't do their job."
Paul's lawyer questioned, "Is this a situation where there are a lot of defects being put out by the lottery? If there is, should they be taking precautions to make sure they're not giving hope to individuals being solicited by the lottery?"
The Massachusetts Lottery is suggesting that anyone with a misprinted ticket should contact their Claims/Legal Department.
He should be the winner of 1M.
One would think there should at least be some consolation prize to atone for such mistakes. To keep good public relations, and as a compromise
to appease the lottery customer, how about a $500 check from the lottery commission? And to give further options, why not offer a choice of
$1000 worth of scratch/on line tickets instead of the check?
If your reading this MA Lottery Commission, loosen your purse strings, and do the right thing!
There should definitely be a consolation prize!! And heck, more than $500! Something standard like 1% of the prize they thought they won? He would get $10,000 then - not bad and will keep away lawyers who would take a bigger bite out of the pie.
**IF** you are reading this MA Lottery Commission: SHAME on you. SHAME! (typed in 'scolding-mother' font)
NOW go and do the right thing.
There's gonna be a policy change now!
The Massachusetts Lottery is suggesting that anyone with a misprinted ticket should contact their Claims/Legal Department.
What does that mean? Do they get an official "sorry loser" , another ticket and some money for their trouble or is it their way of removing defective tickets out of circulation?
I suggested that smaller amount, in lieu of the fact that there were over 2200 defective tickets out there. Obviously $1,000,000.00 would be
the preferred compensation for such a mistake, but something is better than nothing.
Do they get an official "sorry loser"
Yup, then a quick escort and kick to the rear exit leading into the alley.
It was not the playing field or symbols that were misprinted, it was the payout table off to the side of the play area. It was obvious that it was misprinted (or should have been). Crap like this happens. the guy did not win and should not get rewarded. He never even took it to the lottery for verification. Google News the story and you will see a pic of the ticket. Also, Mass lottery FB page gives a better explanation.
Carry on....
CRAP MA
This is what I don't understand can my lossing ticket be a misprint too and if yes will they pay me my millions even though my ticket print says looser. Lol
The back of tickets in jersey reads in part
"Liability for missprints or other errors is limited to refund or replacement."
I'm sure MA. has covered their azz on this also.
It's MA... of course A-covering is job #1. (only place better? rhode island)
Must have went to the wrong Mass Lottery facebook page because the one I saw was from Wikipedia. Ironic that in the article the lottery almost bragged about winning a lawsuit filed by a 94-year-old woman who wanted the cash option for her $5.4 million Megabucks ticket.
You have some classy people running the Massachusetts Lottery.
As always, losing tickets are not misprints.
I read the article that was on MSN.com The Mass. lottery says that there were 2200 misprinted lottery tickets.My question is:IF YOU KNEW HOW MANY TICKETS WERE MISPRINTED,WHY DIDN'T YOU RECALL ALL OF THE TICKETS SO THAT THIS WOULDN"T HAPPEN?HOW LONG WERE YOU GOING TO CONTINUE SELLING THE FLAWED TICKETS?
PAY THE MAN HIS 1,000,000 DOLLARS.IT WILL BE GOOD P.R.
I only play scratch tickets when I go to NY
he did not win a million dollars. As soon as the misprint was discoved they pulled the tix. So many lottery haters around here.
I'm with Cletu$2 on this... it would be GREAT P.R.
This is so wrong. Mistake or not they should pay him what the ticket had printed . It wasn't his fault he received a misprint of a ticket. What would they think if he gave them a misprint currency for the ticket. Wouldn't they want him to make it good?
They knew exactly how many were faulty and those tickets must have serial numbers of some kind and on top of that they can typically track where the scratchies went and at minimum send out notices to this effect, asking retailers to pull and return according to their standard protocols. I have been reading of so many faux pas lately on the part of the vendors and the lottery, I begin to wonder what's coming next? It's not good business to turn this guy away empty handed in the sense that an incident as this fuels the conspiracy theorists who are eager to suggest they knew there was a failure and decided to make as much money off the faulty tickets and do damage control if they're caught with their pants down e.g. one of the 22k happens to be a winner or APPEAR to be a winner. I am not suggesting they pay him a whopping million but give the guy a few goodies along with complimentary tickets. The odds are always in their favor he won't win off of any of them any way!
It should be a FACTORED CONTINGENCY.
This reminds me of the airlines. They're always delayed (I travel a lot) but if you're a few minutes late for checking in time, the clown in the tight skirt and plastic smile tells you the paperwork has been processed and on its way to the pilot, they can't board any more passengers. I then have to pay for a one way ticket that costs more than the round trip and take a later flight while the plane is still on the ground! When they're late I have to leverage the weight of congress to get a voucher in compensation for my inconvenience.
Each redesign does look more and more like Monopoly money.
I'm not a "lottery hater".But I do believe in fair play and that includes fair play by the state lotterys.
WOW!!!! that's jacked UP!!!!!
Not understanding why this game was not pulled until all of the mis-printed tickets were accounted for.
Not understanding how the lottery player can look at a scratch-off ticket and know that it is a mis-printed ticket.
The lottery commission knew they had mis-printed tickets in circulation and did nothing to nitify the general public. Those tickets could be construed as fraud. The lottery commission knowingly sold defective tickets.
Yes, the lottery commission should make good on every mis-printed ticket in this game that is redeemed to the paltry sum of $10,000.
Unknown how the MA Lottery functions per se. Can say that in actuality its a defective product and as such the guy can file a complaint and be A: reimburst the value of cost. Meaning if ticket cost him 20$ he gets back his twenty or B: If emotional damage occurred to the point of deception, He can file civil suit.
The Lottery in essence Hedged its odds for profits from selling them losers. If publically "THEY KNEW" about the misprints, they had a DUTY to recall it.
Not a beleiver in just handing over a million to the misprint error ticket holder, yet do think the guy deserves re-imbursement for the "FAULTY- MISPRINTED" Ticket. They owe him compensation, its no different in the business world...bad product equals compensation.
I think strongly since this was not the customer's fault, the lottery officials should pay this man because he's an innocent person in this situation.
Again, i was the pay table on the ticket that was misprinted. Not like a misprinted number matched with $1MIL under it. Mass lottery handled it well.
Its like a PRANK I seen on a video online and the birthday girl thinks she won $10,000 on a scratcher ticket and then everyone is laughing while she cant understand why everyone is laughing, they're laughing because the scratcher ticket is a NOVELTY FAKE PRANK TICKET.
Then she reads the back of the ticket and it says you can collect your winning from the tooth fairy or Santa or something like that. hahaha she says very funny you all. I hate all of you!
Ok in jest maybe its funny because its a prank. Yet The lottery wants us to trust them and they are supposed to be run by the government.
THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THE LOTTERY TO OVERLOOK HOW THEY TURNED THIS MAN LIFE UPSIDE DOWN. He may even need counsleing for this. I was suicidal when I chose all 6 numbers in the lotto and then didnt win because the retailers machine was down and I had all 6 numbers on my playslip. I also got nothing. And it hurt bad. I was suicidle for a few days I wont lie. For the lottery to just overlook this is beyond reprouch.
The remedy for this is to give them a win anyway of at least $1000 even the public will agree.
Or have a second drawing where all the people who got the bogus tickets put them into a hat and a winner is chosen and given the million dollars.
That will teach them to not make these type of mistakes again.
The way the lottery should should be held accountable for things like this is like the pharmacist who give a patient the wrong medication and he dies.
There should be punishment for the loottery making bogus tickets
And I wonder how much advertising went into the commercials promoting people to play vs making the public aware of the bogus tickets so people didnt get their hopes up. I bet the poor guy had no idea that the lottery had even printed bogus tickets and really thought he won!
This is just complete bull!
The lottery should have a second chance drawing, but do they no! thats because their crooks! Any honest person would feel so terrible for this poor guy they would do anything to repair the DAMAGE they CAUSED! He did nothing wrong at all and they go on with their lives while his already hardship has just become 100 times worse. I know the pain I had all 6 numbers right before and the retail machine was down.
Ok I was running late and couldnt make it to the next store so it was somewhat my own fault but this guy did nothing wrong.
I wouldnt ever trust a lottery like that! Rotten vultures.
IF the Lottery Commission KNEW they had misprints then they should have distroyed the WHOLE lot of tickets and started over.
BUT they went ahead with the ticket sales and thought that they can void the ticket once it was found by a player?
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Time for the Lawyers to get rich too now!
Anyone who is satisfied with the lottery's cheap disclaimer and thinks that the man should get a lotto comp pack...put yourself in his shoes.
Imagine how it felt to see a Million dollar win. 3 RED words = $1 Million dollars.
The printing machines printed 2,200 winners of a top prize, they released the tickets, sold them, collected money for them, allowed players to go on buying a defective
batch and are now trying to use the lame excuse that compensation is limited to replacement or ticket cost? BS.
The whole game should have been discontinued immediately. The activation process for ALL tickets in that batch should have been disabled.
This makes my belief even firmer that lottery's know exactly where the winners are, what areas they go to and that is isn't at all random as they want you to believe.
They have control over things they want no one to know about. How would sales be hurt by people thinking that it isn't totally random? Sure, there will always be players
but some of those players would be totally turned off by the lottery's definition of random and their advertising campaign about how it can happen to anyone. BS again.
They need to pay this man for their mistake. Good PR.
Everyone who thinks Ah, tough beans...I hope you get the chance to have a misprint and think you won a top prize and have them tell you: Sorry, we made a mistake,
you didn't win anything. How long would that bother you? Or are you going to tell me it goes with the territory and that you fully accept the lousy rules printed on the
back of the ticket?
Oh and btw...someone said something that it's like writing a check or making a payment and adding too many digits....well, no, it's not. You owe what you owe. There is
no incentive, no enticement, no prize to be had by making your payment. You are paying for services rendered or what is due. There is nothing they gave you except
what you used or bought. They can't legally keep your overpayment. The lottery on the other hand, is promoting prizes..big prizes...for people paying for the chance to
win one. It can't simply be written off as oops, we made a mistake in printing how many of what we were offering so please excuse us from having to pay you now.
So, what is their responsibility? To them, it's the most cost effective one. To the players it should be giving winners their due. This man needs more than a dufflebag.
I've been there before myself.
Many many moons ago I had the winning 6 lottery numbers and talked myself out of purchasing them.
The following day I checked the numbers and felt extremely ill.
The combination I talked myself out of purchasing, was the winning combination for $50 million dollars.
I took off work for a week and stayed in bed calling myself everything but human.
That was a very dark time for me because we are our worst critic and we judge ourselves harsher than anyone ever could.
It took about a year for me to forgive myself.
I was constantly angry with myself and questioned all my decisions during that time.
I'm still learning to follow my instincts, but I can forgive myself a lot faster now without the anger.
Great idea about the second chance drawing.
I am of the persuasion that anyone who has one of the mis-printed tickets should be compensated with $10,000.
Sort of like find the needle in the haystack and win $10,000.
Very sorry to hear about your "almost" jackpot win PERDUE. Have you ever played those numbers again? Was it a state game, or national?
Do you still remember those fateful numbers? Sorry in advance, hope I'm not opening up any old wounds.
A similar thing happened to two freinds of mine a few years ago. They thought they had a winning $5,000,000 scratch ticke t(Massachusetts again). Lottery said it was a misprint. One of these two gentlemen was a lawyer. That didn't help any at all. The lotteries attitude was go ahead and sue us. They sent them each a complimentary $5.00 scratch ticket. Also, be careful checking winning numbers on Mass Lotteries website. Especially on weekends. They use the "who you know" hiring method and a lot of them can't find their way home without GPS! I've caught several postings that were wrong.
Any player who tracks his wins and loses and keeps records of what he plays or was going to play will eventually have a similar experience.
Even players who buy quick-picks, check and throw them away have similar thoughts when they read someone found a jackpot winning ticket in the trash where they buy their tickets.
Some time the different between winning and losing is the day you played or a couple of numbers plus or minus one.
Very True!
So my time is coming.
wow really? i have never had all 6 numbers... i would have been devastated if i had had all the numbers and just had neglected to play (which is why I play every draw). Good for you for it not getting you down!
wait... RJOh - you mean that you also had all 6 numbers but just had not played that draw? and you have found this to be a 'usual' or at least quasi-normal thing for anyone who tracks wins/losses?
i am hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Playig the lottery for regulars shoud be a long term strategy. I earned that the hard way. I have been carrying the same numbers for almost 2 years now. Hopefully one of my horses will come FIRST sooner than later
Roger that, rad, I'm in for the long haul too (Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise).
I would be angry until I read the rules on back of the ticket.
I agree. There should have been auditing/verification prior to selling ANY scratch off tickets. Had the product that was sold been a defective toy instead of a lottery ticket, you can bet that the manufacturer/supplier would be facing legal issues.
The disclaimer that the lottery hides behind is unfair and still leaves itself open especially in circumstances such as this one.
How does the crowd you hang out with effect you tracking your lottery wins/losses? Are you in a pool?
He will speak for himself but I tihnk he means to be in the CROWD that picks the winning combinations - lol!
Oh I get it, isn't that the old "Homer Simpon's theory of let someone else do it"? You hang with a crowd or pool and someone else in the crowd will pick the numbers and check the tickets.
I've always believed if you want something done, do it yourself and you can be sure it gets done.
Ditto
would hate to see that done to me
This is why I don't play scratch offs. The scratch off industry is too easy to get out of paying up for their own foul ups. So what it was a misprint. I say they should still have to honor that payment. Maybe next time they will work harder not to let it get out of their control!!!!
I was going by the theory that we become more like those that we are around (dogs look more like their owners - or maybe its the other way around... warm water cools to room temp... everything moving toward equilibrium)... hence my thought that I should be around those who win more/come close more. ... and not participating in any pools (potentially too messy for my taste)
And my tracking my own? Thus far its pretty easy. 8$/week spent 0$/week won = 8$/week 'invested in the education of our youth'
Thank you, thank you. You should be a lawyer, good argument and I agree with you all the way.
They KNEW there where misprinted tickets out there, so what did they DO to rectify the situaltion?
Wait for some poor sap to come in and think they are a winner and say to them, Sorry Sucker.
Or take a more pro-active roll and recall the tickets. Oh, but wait, if they do that they will lose money on the other million of tickets not misprinted.
They should have a better way of handling this situation and at least WARN the public as to what is going on.
-Michael
There has been enough of such cases over the years that the public should consider itself WARNED.