Man Arrested For Buying Lottery Ticket

[Rageaholic]

Found this on fark.

He violated some state law that says you're not supposed to buy lotto tickets at the store you're employed at. It looks like the law was made to prevent employees from scamming customers. Several years ago, a cashier checked a customers ticket and found out it was a winner. He lied and said it wasn't a winner and kept the ticket for himself to cash. I'm not sure how that story ended, but I think the cashier had the pants sued off of him and they're still trying to get the guys money back.

I still think this is silly. Those kind of scams can be prevented by allowing customers to scan tickets. In Michigan, there are machines that not only tell you if you're a winner, but tell you how much. For what ever reason, they only work for draw games. The scanners for the scratch off games (which this guy won on), are on the other side of the counter, only the employees have access to them. But that sounds like something that can easily be fixed.

[NecCat]

He purchased a ticket illegally, knowing the purchase was illegal, got found out, then got charged and will have to appear in court. How is this even a news story?

I've never sold lottery tickets, but when I worked at a coffee shop there was a rule against employees and their families winning roll up the rim prizes. I'm pretty sure the lottery people are even more clear and strict about their rules than the Timmies people. If you want to argue that the laws are stupid/unjust/unnecessary that's one thing, but this guy got exactly what he was asking for.

[Gravekeeper]

Several years ago, a cashier checked a customers ticket and found out it was a winner. He lied and said it wasn't a winner and kept the ticket for himself to cash.

Up here they are required to return the ticket to you win or lose and you need to sign the back as well. Plus the terminal that verifies tickets plays a loud and distinct little victory tune if it scans a winner. There's no way the employee could dupe someone. Lot of places have a self serve ticket checker too.

Employees are not allowed to purchase tickets at their own stores here either on top of that.

[Ginger Tea]

Over a decade ago, there was a newsagents in the UK who ran a lottery scratch card scam, I don't know about other countries, but those made by Camelot for the National Lottery, had a scratch off bar away from the actual prize section.

So this Newsagent would scratch that off and check it if it was a winner he kept it by for one of his mates to purchase and 'win' taking his cut, if it was a looser, then it went on general sale.

So if other systems work in a similar fashion then a night clerk or someone with a slow day but no co workers, could just pre scan the roll looking for winners.

[Jetfire]

Up here they are required to return the ticket to you win or lose and you need to sign the back as well. Plus the terminal that verifies tickets plays a loud and distinct little victory tune if it scans a winner. There's no way the employee could dupe someone. Lot of places have a self serve ticket checker too.

Employees are not allowed to purchase tickets at their own stores here either on top of that.

Alot of those changes have come about in the past 5-10 years precisely because of Store Employees lying about winning tickets and cashing them in later.

Because the media got wind of how Employees were winning big prizes more than they statistically should have, that kicked off a huge investigation that lead to the changes. With the way we're doing it now (at least in Canada, with the self check options, ticket signing and loud verification machines), buying from your own store probably isn't as big a risk as it used to be, but it does seem more proper to go to different sources.

Reading this story, it seems like the guy knew what he was doing was wrong and he may have other legal issues in general. If he'd have been smart, he should have just given the ticket to a friend or family member for a cut of the prize. Probably still technically illegal, but more difficult to find out about.

[siead_lietrathua]

Employees are not allowed to purchase tickets at their own stores here either on top of that.

slight correction: you can if you're an employee that doesn't sell the tickets. so, in my store, cashiers, supes and management cannot, but people from non-lotto departments (like floor workers, etc) can.
they register the authorised users into the machine itself so they can track who is and is not allowed to run the lotto machine. anyone not on that list is free to buy all they want.

edit: to the scratch off part, there used to be a number by the barcodes, as well as a series of symbols (i think it was triangles) that might indicate a winner. they removed both the numbers and symbols from scratch tickets now, so there is just the win or lose barcode left. but yes, it used to be very easy to tell what scratch-offs were winners. i had some customers that would just scratch off the barcode area to check the symbols. (now they just scratch the barcode and scan it at the selfscan lol)

(to all the above stuff: i'm speaking about OLG of course, other provinces might be different)

[wolfie]

Up here they are required to return the ticket to you win or lose and you need to sign the back as well. Plus the terminal that verifies tickets plays a loud and distinct little victory tune if it scans a winner..

Around here the "return win or lose" and requirement to sign the ticket were put in because of scamming clerks. I've heard of cases (before that was brought in, and before the visible-to-the-customer display was changed to show the amount that was won) where someone handed in their ticket to be scanned, the machine played its tune, and the clerk told them it was a $10 winner (at the time, the lowest prize on 6/49 - they've since added a $5 prize) and paid that out. Needless to say, it was a much bigger winner that the clerk redeemed for themself.

[EricKei]

Sounds similar to the McDonald's Monopoly scandal -- for a period of about five years or so -- in the early aughties, I believe -- the company Mickey D's had hired to administrate prize handouts and prevent fraud had been committing fraud and giving out most of the best prizes to themselves.

[Rageaholic]

Someone that always bugged me about McDonalds Monopoly was the online sweepstakes. To enter, you needed to enter a code found on the game piece. To collect the prize, you needed the game piece with the winning code on it. However, some of the game pieces came with prizes of their own (such as free menu items). The pieces with the free menu items expired the day of the online drawing. If you entered in a code on the free food piece, you'd risk not being able to collect the online prize if you won.

[MadMike]

Sounds similar to the McDonald's Monopoly scandal -- for a period of about five years or so -- in the early aughties, I believe -- the company Mickey D's had hired to administrate prize handouts and prevent fraud had been committing fraud and giving out most of the best prizes to themselves.

Don't most of these contests have a rule that employees and their families aren't eligible?

[Gilhelmi]

He purchased a ticket illegally, knowing the purchase was illegal, got found out, then got charged and will have to appear in court. How is this even a news story?

But did he know that the purchase was illegal? I know in Kansas, it is not illegal. If he was not properly trained, or if it is one of those rarely enforced laws, he might not have known about the law. Maybe even cashing in his winning lotto tickets that before were up-to the amount the store normally dispenses.

[NecCat]

When he was asked about he first denied making the purchase at his own store, then when he admitted it was from his own store he explained that he tried to lie because he knew it was illegal to purchase tickets at the store he works at.

[HYHYBT]

Don't most of these contests have a rule that employees and their families aren't eligible?

Yes, but it happened nonetheless, ending in 2001 or so.

[EricKei]

Mike - yes, but the issue here was that the outside company McD had contracted out to -- likely to prevent their own people/their families from committing fraud and stealing the best goodies -- committed fraud and stole the best goodies.

[Greenday]

But did he know that the purchase was illegal? I know in Kansas, it is not illegal. If he was not properly trained, or if it is one of those rarely enforced laws, he might not have known about the law. Maybe even cashing in his winning lotto tickets that before were up-to the amount the store normally dispenses.

Ignorance of the law has never been an acceptable excuse.