Fla. Lottery Refuses To Pay Winning Prize

[White Rain]

This is wrong! They need to pay up.

OCALA, Fla. - The Florida Lottery is refusing to pay a $500,000 prize until it can inspect the $20 scratch-off ticket, which officials said Thursday appears to be a misprint.
Joe Curcio, 56, says he got the ticket at a service plaza Sunday on Florida's Turnpike.
The Gold Rush ticket has the numeral 1 on the top row and a numeral 1 above the $500,000 scratch-off piece, making the ticket appear to be a winner. But when Curcio had it scanned, the ticket's bar code indicated it wasn't.
Curcio, who owns a used car dealership, said lottery officials told him the top number actually was a "13" that was misprinted.
"They're saying it's a misprint. How do I know it's a misprint?" he asked. He has hired an attorney to press his claim.
Lottery spokeswoman Jacqueline Barreiros said Curcio still needed to turn over the ticket for a full inspection.
"We can't say whether we will pay the jackpot or not until we go through the process," she said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18728793/

 

[Paladin]

Not necessarily. They claimed it was supposed to be a 13 and that you can clearly see a "TH" underneath the actual number. They obviously print out the written letters to cover their asses in case of a misprint, which happened in this case. I guess the people can argue the other way and say the "TH" is the real misprint, and that the lottery company doesn't want to pay out $500,000. I'm pretty sure the law will side with the lottery company though, given that they are the ones who dictate when the big winnings go out, not the consumer.

I think they should at least give this couple something for the trouble and confusion it has caused them.

 

[nanandjim]

Not necessarily. They claimed it was supposed to be a 13 and that you can clearly see a "TH" underneath the actual number. They obviously print out the written letters to cover their asses in case of a misprint, which happened in this case. I guess the people can argue the other way and say the "TH" is the real misprint, and that the lottery company doesn't want to pay out $500,000. I'm pretty sure the law will side with the lottery company though, given that they are the ones who dictate when the big winnings go out, not the consumer.

I think they should at least give this couple something for the trouble and confusion it has caused them.

I'm confused. I don't do scratch-off tickets very often. Do they spell out the number below the number, meaning "13=Thirteen?" If only the "Th" was on the ticket, I can see this going to the buyer of the ticket because I can see their argument is the "Th" was the misprint. If the full "Thirteen" had been spelled out, then it would go to the lottery company. I think that they should negotiate some type of resolution (maybe, $250,000) and be done with it.

 

[Paladin]

I'm confused. I don't do scratch-off tickets very often. Do they spell out the number below the number, meaning "13=Thirteen?" If only the "Th" was on the ticket, I can see this going to the buyer of the ticket because I can see their argument is the "Th" was the misprint. If the full "Thirteen" had been spelled out, then it would go to the lottery company. I think that they should negotiate some type of resolution (maybe, $250,000) and be done with it.

The "irteen" (or the abbreviation of the number) was cut off the same point the 3 was. When you do a scratch off ticket and take it to a liqour store or a super market to redeem it, they scan a barcode on the card to tell you the winnings. They are all pre-determined. If the "TH" really was a misprint then when they put the card through the machine it should say 500,000. Otherwise the person is out of luck if the misprint is the 1.

I'm very interested to see how this will unfold.