Here’s a timely warning. Always check winning lottery tickets yourself.
Most lottery retailers are honest decent people. And they get a real buzz when their store creates a big lottery winner.
This is comments page 7. Read the full post here:-
Check Lottery Tickets Yourself… Or Else!
Hi, I have a 5$ ticket and won my 5$ back, that’s it. But when I take it to the retailer it said ‘congratulations see NC lottery’ and gives it back… Why didn’t I get my 5$ if that’s all that I won on the ticket?
Hi, I also had a similar problem. I have 2 scratch tickets which are both $50 winners. However when I try to cash them all I receive is a receipt saying “CLAIM AT LOTTERY”, then beneath “Congratulations you are a Winner”. I tried at two separate locations and received the same message. In the past I had no problems cashing in tickets worth more than $50 but why all of a sudden this time I need to visit a lottery office in order to claim my money?
Take it to your lottery office. Fill in your name on the back so no-one can take it.
I just bought 4 of my scratch tickets at a self serve on 6th and main, and one of my tickets was a winner. I had won $77 and the old lady said they all were no good and didn’t give me my money.
Take them to your local lottery office.
I went into the local Dutton gas station in Michigan earlier this week to check my tickets. One I scanned a few times said ‘check retailer’, even between tickets, it was in good condition. I had the clerk check it. He scanned it and he said it’s not a winner, but he seemed hesitant and didn’t give me back my ticket, so I couldn’t enter it into the second chance draw to win online. I was in a rush and had to get my son to the babysitter and to work so I don’t even know if I won or not.
Write your name on the back of the ticket when you BUY it! That way no one else can cash it in.
My guess is – you got scammed. Avoid that store in the future.
I bought four consecutive mystery crossword puzzle tickets of the 10 dollar variety. I scanned all for of them. 3 were non winners and the fourth gave me an 800 number to call. I was unsure about this, so took the fourth ticket to a few more self scanning machines. It came up the same way each time. Any ideas what this could mean? Thanks.
I played a CA lotto scratcher and won $4. It scanned at the store and says to file a claim form. Why for a $4 winner?
Did you end up getting more? Had the same results.
I bought a Powerball ticket but did not have any lucky numbers, do I still need to have it scanned?
I recommend double checking every ticket. There are numerous cases of the wrong results being published in newspapers, or broadcast on TV. And cases where lottery companies have published the wrong results on their websites (they fix it quickly, but many people check right after the draw). It’s also easy to miss a number when manually checking, or even check against the wrong results (old newspaper or even the wrong game!).
There have even been cases where the ticket scanner machines have been incorrectly reporting losing tickets for short periods of time. So I recommend manually checking AND using the scanners for every ticket.
Do I need to hold on to lottery tickets for second chance drawing if I scanned them in?
It may not be required (depends on the terms & conditions of that lottery company) – but I strongly recommend you keep them anyway, at least for a few weeks after the 2nd chance draw has been done.
I have a question. I decided to scan my scratcher that wasn’t a winner just for kicks and it said “file a claim” so then I took it to the cashier and same thing. So shouldn’t it just say ” non-winner”?? I triple checked the scratcher I’m pretty sure it’s not a winner so why would it say file a claim? Error? Or what?!
It certainly could be an error – I’d try scanning it again just in case it was only a temporary thing.
Or you could have won something. Some tickets are much easier to understand the rules than others (which is why winning tickets do get thrown away all the time!).
If it still comes up as file claim, the only way to know for sure is to claim. It’s a nuisance, but if it then turns out to be a losing ticket then I think it would be reasonable to ask for a couple of free tickets for the hassle of making you claim unnecessarily 🙂
Are there any code letters near the bottom such as T-N-E or O-N-E? Most scratchers have the amount won at the bottom.
T-N-E would stand for ten dollars and O-N-E stands for one dollar. I’ve never seen one for anything higher than twenty so don’t know which letters they use.
I had the same issue. I took a scratch off to the store and scanned it on the machine AND it said winner see retailer. When the clerk scanned the ticket it said FILE CLAIM! It doesn’t indicate the amount, just file claim. I called the lottery commission and they said to file a claim. The lottery representative asked “how much did you win”? I replied I don’t know. On the face of the ticket it’s not a winner. I believe it might be a misprint and the ticket is a winner. Common sense would tell you it’s not saying file claim for no reason at all.
I took an NYS scratch off back and it said already cashed. What does that mean?
Just contact the lottery company – it’s probably a mistake.