I feel that Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Members should WAIT before building cases! :/Prev Topic Next Topic

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Karen Nathan

Miami Florida
United States
Member #191,036
July 13, 2018
545 Posts
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Feb 20, 2021, 9:05 am

At a Gas Station, an Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member pretended to be a normal Lottery Player and handed a Clerk a "Winning," $75,000 Lottery Ticket. The Clerk gave him only $75.00. The Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member was just about to build a case against the "Dishonest, thieving, Clerk, but there was a twist. The Clerk realized in Horror the same day that they only gave $75.00 on a $75,000 Winning ticket and alerted his Boss to the huge mistake. The Boss released Surveillance camera video of the transaction to the News and the Clerk admitted the mistake on Social Media IIRC. They both hoped that the "Winner," would be alerted to the mistake and would come back and MAYBE, just MAYBE, he could cash it in for the correct $75,000 minus taxes and fees. At the time, they had no idea that this was an Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member and honestly thought he was just a normal Lottery Player....

The Lottery Members themselves ironically came forward and admitted it was a Sting Operation. They were like,"It's good news that the Clerk realized and admitted his huge mistake the same day and alerted his Boss to the huge mistake and they both tried hard to get the "Winner," alerted so the "Winner," could get back the $75,000 ticket and possibly cash it in for the $75,000 minus taxes and fees but this mistake shouldn't have happened in the first place. It's also worrisome that the Gas Station kept the ticket (Well duh, the Gas Station kept the ticket. The Clerk thought he paid out the correct amount, so keeping the ticket for inventory purposes after Payouts is normal protocol.) The Lottery said they would be keeping a close eye on that Gas Station and if anyone tried to cash in that $75,000 from that store, the Store would lose its Lottery License. I doubt anyone would try to cash in that Lottery Ticket from that store considering the fact they put out alerts about that ticket and we're trying hard to get the "Winner," to come back and get it back. The amount was plausible too. The Clerk presumably saw 7500 and didn't see the last 0, so saw it as $75.00 and paid that out. Seems really plausible. If it was were say $100,000 and he only gave $50, THAT would have been inexcusable and blatant and obvious decept, but what happened was excusable plausibility. I feel that Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Members should WAIT before building cases....

"What's your ADDRESS?" May be the CREEPIEST question EVER asked to a Lottery Winner! O.O WTF?

At first, I found the one digit away draws kind of amusing, but now I am PISSED! 15 or 16 times I was off by just one digit in recent times!🤬 No longer find this amusing, it's making me REALLY angry now!🤬
Karen Nathan

Miami Florida
United States
Member #191,036
July 13, 2018
545 Posts
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Feb 20, 2021, 8:32 pm

Question. Let's say that this WAS a real Lottery Player that had accidentally been given $75 on a $75,000 Winnings Lottery ticket,and saw the News and was like,"Hey, that's ME on the surveillance camera and went back to get the $75,000 ticket back, what are the odds the Lottery would pay him the $75,000 minus taxes and fees after the Gas Station Clerk already scanned it and accidentally paid him $75? I guess the Lottery Clerk could call Lottery Headquarters and admit the mistake, but I don't know if the guy would get paid after the ticket was already scanned and paid out on....

"What's your ADDRESS?" May be the CREEPIEST question EVER asked to a Lottery Winner! O.O WTF?

At first, I found the one digit away draws kind of amusing, but now I am PISSED! 15 or 16 times I was off by just one digit in recent times!🤬 No longer find this amusing, it's making me REALLY angry now!🤬
AllenB

California
United States
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June 27, 2015
1,635 Posts
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Feb 20, 2021, 9:40 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Karen Nathan on Feb 20, 2021
Question. Let's say that this WAS a real Lottery Player that had accidentally been given $75 on a $75,000 Winnings Lottery ticket,and saw the News and was like,"Hey, that's ME on the surveillance camera and went back to get the $75,000 ticket back, what are the odds the Lottery would pay him the $75,000 minus taxes and fees after the Gas Station Clerk already scanned it and accidentally paid him $75? I guess the Lottery Clerk could call Lottery Headquarters and admit the mistake, but I don't know if the guy would get paid after the ticket was already scanned and paid out on....

Maybe the clerk did not have the $75,000 in the Till

Think about it!
Karen Nathan

Miami Florida
United States
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July 13, 2018
545 Posts
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Feb 20, 2021, 9:50 pm

Quote: Originally posted by AllenB on Feb 20, 2021
Maybe the clerk did not have the $75,000 in the Till

Think about it!

No, I meant could a REAL Lottery Player get the ticket back and still claim it at say a Lottery Office after a Clerk already scanned it and paid out the wrong amount by accident?

"What's your ADDRESS?" May be the CREEPIEST question EVER asked to a Lottery Winner! O.O WTF?

At first, I found the one digit away draws kind of amusing, but now I am PISSED! 15 or 16 times I was off by just one digit in recent times!🤬 No longer find this amusing, it's making me REALLY angry now!🤬
ieatdirt

United States
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November 30, 2013
95 Posts
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Feb 21, 2021, 10:18 am

Story seems a bit contrived or that state needs to change its system. Where I cash tickets the stores are limited to paying $600 max (the untaxed limit). Anything over that amount a message pops up telling the winner to contact the lottery. Doesn’t tell the clerk or the winner the amount unless I guess it’s easily visible i.e. on a scratch card. This is another reason to simply scratch the bar code and scan it. Takes the fun (and work) away from scratching though but you can always scratch it later to see the $ amount. I like to check my tickets on the little self service machine too first
KY Floyd

NY
United States
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October 16, 2005
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Feb 24, 2021, 5:17 pm

Of course the lottery would pay for a legitimate 75k winning ticket. A retailer can't cash a ticket for that much, so the ticket was never properly cashed in. If it had been a really ticket it would still be unclaimed and valid.

The big question here is whether or not there was a legitimate reason that a clerk could mistake a 75k winner for a $75 winner. If a ticket wins more than a retailer is allowed to pay then when the retailer scans it they should only see a notice that the ticket has to be paid at a claim center, and not see any dollar amount. If for some reason the ticket was scanned and the terminal said it was worth $75,000 it would be possible for a clerk to mistake the comma for a decimal point and honestly think it said $75.00. That's even more likely for somebody used to the European convention of using a comma as the delineator, so that 75 dollars would be written as "$75,00".

As for waiting to build a case, they should never bring criminal cases until somebody tries to fraudulently claim the "winning" ticket. No matter how much stupidity is required to be wrong about he value of the ticket it's not a crime to make the mistake, and you can't prove it's not just a mistake if the only thing they do is payout the wrong amount.
Karen Nathan

Miami Florida
United States
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July 13, 2018
545 Posts
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Feb 24, 2021, 10:25 pm

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Feb 24, 2021
Of course the lottery would pay for a legitimate 75k winning ticket. A retailer can't cash a ticket for that much, so the ticket was never properly cashed in. If it had been a really ticket it would still be unclaimed and valid.

The big question here is whether or not there was a legitimate reason that a clerk could mistake a 75k winner for a $75 winner. If a ticket wins more than a retailer is allowed to pay then when the retailer scans it they should only see a notice that the ticket has to be paid at a claim center, and not see any dollar amount. If for some reason the ticket was scanned and the terminal said it was worth $75,000 it would be possible for a clerk to mistake the comma for a decimal point and honestly think it said $75.00. That's even more likely for somebody used to the European convention of using a comma as the delineator, so that 75 dollars would be written as "$75,00".

As for waiting to build a case, they should never bring criminal cases until somebody tries to fraudulently claim the "winning" ticket. No matter how much stupidity is required to be wrong about he value of the ticket it's not a crime to make the mistake, and you can't prove it's not just a mistake if the only thing they do is payout the wrong amount.

I also said that Lottery Clerk must have seen it as $75.00 and not $75,000. The same day that Clerk realized they made a HUGE mistake and tried hard to get the Winner alerted to the mistake..... I can't imagine the Horror when the Clerk was doing Lottery inventory and realized,"That says $75,000, NOT $75.00! Uh oh!"

"What's your ADDRESS?" May be the CREEPIEST question EVER asked to a Lottery Winner! O.O WTF?

At first, I found the one digit away draws kind of amusing, but now I am PISSED! 15 or 16 times I was off by just one digit in recent times!🤬 No longer find this amusing, it's making me REALLY angry now!🤬
Stack47

Kentucky
United States
Member #32,651
February 14, 2006
10,301 Posts
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Feb 25, 2021, 8:14 pm

Cashed a $75 winner today and watched the clerk validate the ticket, stapled the receipt to the ticket and gave me the cash. I don't know how a store clerk could validate a $75,000 winning ticket on their terminal and neither did the clerk I asked after reading this thread. Not all state lotteries use the same ticket cashing process, but never heard of a gas station lottery terminal that validates a $75,000 winning ticket. And think there was instructions on how the should proceed.

Just a guess, but maybe sometime after the player left the store, the clerk heard lottery security were in town and decided to claim "oops".

"When will we ever learn?"
Karen Nathan

Miami Florida
United States
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July 13, 2018
545 Posts
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Feb 26, 2021, 6:45 am

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Feb 25, 2021
Cashed a $75 winner today and watched the clerk validate the ticket, stapled the receipt to the ticket and gave me the cash. I don't know how a store clerk could validate a $75,000 winning ticket on their terminal and neither did the clerk I asked after reading this thread. Not all state lotteries use the same ticket cashing process, but never heard of a gas station lottery terminal that validates a $75,000 winning ticket. And think there was instructions on how the should proceed.

Just a guess, but maybe sometime after the player left the store, the clerk heard lottery security were in town and decided to claim "oops".

The Clerk had NO idea that the "Lottery Player," was really an Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member until the Lottery came forward and admitted it was a Sting Operation.

"What's your ADDRESS?" May be the CREEPIEST question EVER asked to a Lottery Winner! O.O WTF?

At first, I found the one digit away draws kind of amusing, but now I am PISSED! 15 or 16 times I was off by just one digit in recent times!🤬 No longer find this amusing, it's making me REALLY angry now!🤬
Stack47

Kentucky
United States
Member #32,651
February 14, 2006
10,301 Posts
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Feb 26, 2021, 9:34 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Karen Nathan on Feb 26, 2021
The Clerk had NO idea that the "Lottery Player," was really an Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member until the Lottery came forward and admitted it was a Sting Operation.

You never said which state this happened in or if it's just hypothetical, but considering no state lottery allows store terminals to validate and pay a $75,000 winning ticket, it looks like the sting worked.

"The Clerk thought he paid out the correct amount, so keeping the ticket for inventory purposes after Payouts is normal protocol."

Apparently you're trying to create a not very well thought out hypothetical situation and don't have a clue of what normal ticket validation protocols are. Bet if your state lottery conducts sting operations it's to protect their players and the lottery's integrity. Had your clerk performed the correct normal protocol, they would have scanned the ticket and known exactly how much it was worth.

Regardless whether it's real or make up story, stores have scanners and if players don't know how much their ticket is worth, scan it.

"When will we ever learn?"
Lottomeister

Germany
Member #174,817
May 14, 2016
654 Posts
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Feb 26, 2021, 9:36 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Karen Nathan on Feb 20, 2021
At a Gas Station, an Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member pretended to be a normal Lottery Player and handed a Clerk a "Winning," $75,000 Lottery Ticket. The Clerk gave him only $75.00. The Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member was just about to build a case against the "Dishonest, thieving, Clerk, but there was a twist. The Clerk realized in Horror the same day that they only gave $75.00 on a $75,000 Winning ticket and alerted his Boss to the huge mistake. The Boss released Surveillance camera video of the transaction to the News and the Clerk admitted the mistake on Social Media IIRC. They both hoped that the "Winner," would be alerted to the mistake and would come back and MAYBE, just MAYBE, he could cash it in for the correct $75,000 minus taxes and fees. At the time, they had no idea that this was an Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Member and honestly thought he was just a normal Lottery Player....

The Lottery Members themselves ironically came forward and admitted it was a Sting Operation. They were like,"It's good news that the Clerk realized and admitted his huge mistake the same day and alerted his Boss to the huge mistake and they both tried hard to get the "Winner," alerted so the "Winner," could get back the $75,000 ticket and possibly cash it in for the $75,000 minus taxes and fees but this mistake shouldn't have happened in the first place. It's also worrisome that the Gas Station kept the ticket (Well duh, the Gas Station kept the ticket. The Clerk thought he paid out the correct amount, so keeping the ticket for inventory purposes after Payouts is normal protocol.) The Lottery said they would be keeping a close eye on that Gas Station and if anyone tried to cash in that $75,000 from that store, the Store would lose its Lottery License. I doubt anyone would try to cash in that Lottery Ticket from that store considering the fact they put out alerts about that ticket and we're trying hard to get the "Winner," to come back and get it back. The amount was plausible too. The Clerk presumably saw 7500 and didn't see the last 0, so saw it as $75.00 and paid that out. Seems really plausible. If it was were say $100,000 and he only gave $50, THAT would have been inexcusable and blatant and obvious decept, but what happened was excusable plausibility. I feel that Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Members should WAIT before building cases....

Interesting story. I looked it up on google.

It's always possible that I'm wrong~

But that's never at the top of my list of possibilities.
Cindy5050

Bakersfield, California
United States
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August 23, 2020
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Feb 26, 2021, 9:53 pm

The ticket itself would have been a fake winning ticket that the lottery generates to say"WINNER" on any store's lotto machine as they are doibg their undercover work.
Karen Nathan

Miami Florida
United States
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July 13, 2018
545 Posts
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Feb 26, 2021, 10:35 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Cindy5050 on Feb 26, 2021
The ticket itself would have been a fake winning ticket that the lottery generates to say"WINNER" on any store's lotto machine as they are doibg their undercover work.

Hmm. Not so sure that the ticket just says,"Winner," when scanned because Chris Hansen did an Undercover Lottery Sting and Chris's voiceover says,"This ticket was generated to read,"$1,000, for this Sting." When the Clerks scanned it, they told the Undercover Lottery Dateline Employee in happy surprise," "You won $1,000!" Chris's voiceover says something like,"Good news, this store passed the test."

"What's your ADDRESS?" May be the CREEPIEST question EVER asked to a Lottery Winner! O.O WTF?

At first, I found the one digit away draws kind of amusing, but now I am PISSED! 15 or 16 times I was off by just one digit in recent times!🤬 No longer find this amusing, it's making me REALLY angry now!🤬

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I feel that Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Members should WAIT before building cases! :/Prev TopicNext Topic

I feel that Undercover Lottery Investigation Staff Members should WAIT before building cases! :/Prev Topic Next Topic