Lottery ticket "misprint" costs Florida woman a quarter million dollars!

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lottery ticket "misprint" costs Florida woman a quarter million dollars!

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:35:19 PM EDT

This is complete BS! I would lawyer up so damn quick it would make their heads spin, and I WOULD get paid!

www.wftv.com/news/4788259/detail.html

Florida Lottery Says $250,000 Scratch-Off Ticket Is Misprinted

OVIEDO, Fla. -- She thought she won $250,000 in the lottery, but the lottery said it's not paying. The lottery said what appeared to be a winning ticket was a misprint.

Tina Coley buys her scratch off tickets at the same store every week. She said she almost had a heart attack when she matched a number for a quarter of a million dollars. But the Florida Lottery said the ticket is a misprint and Coley's only entitled to $20.

Coley and her family raise German Shepherds. They have enough puppies to keep them smiling, despite a weeks-long roller coaster ride.

Coley bought a ticket at the Sunoco Food Mart just outside Oviedo and scratched it at a stoplight.

"I'm sitting at the light and I scratched the ticket and realize that the two matched the two on the ticket and it was worth $250,000. My hands started shaking. I couldn't drive. The people behind me were tooting their horns," Coley explained.

Right away, she drove to the lottery office in Casselberry, where they copied the ticket and sent the original to Tallahassee. Two weeks later, a lottery official called to say the ticket was a pretty big mistake.

"They said it's a misprint. They misprinted the ticket and they say it's not their responsibility to pay me any of the money," Coley said.

In fact, they put it in writing with a letter to Coley saying, "There is a printing defect which could make the 22 appear as a 2." They said, no dice, and offered her $300-worth of lottery tickets for her trouble.

"Whether they misprinted it or correctly printed it, it's not my fault that they didn't print the ticket properly and, as far as I was concerned, I won $250,000.

Friday, the Lottery issued a statement saying they print 500-million tickets a year and that "the very nature of any mechanical printing process can never guarantee 100% accuracy."

They said, under the number two, a partial printing of an abbreviation for 22 appears, so the lottery decided the mistake should play out in their own favor.

"I think God has a really strange sense of humor, to give you $250,000 and take it away in the next breath," Coley said.

Lottery officials originally told Coley she could have her winning ticket back, but now that they've said 'Sorry, Charlie,' they decided they'd keep the questionable ticket.

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:39:18 PM EDT

[#1]

in the end I doubt she will get the money.

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:40:43 PM EDT

[#2]

Um..

If I recall correctly, they have the written-out version of each number on the ticket designed exactly for this problem. If the numerical and longhand doesn't match up, it's a no-go.

2
(Twenty Two)

Does not equal winning. Shitty situation though.

ETA: What is this "costs woman quarter million dollars" stuff? Did they give it to her, then demand the money back? No, so what's with the play on words?

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:45:17 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Um..

If I recall correctly, they have the written-out version of each number on the ticket designed exactly for this problem. If the numerical and longhand doesn't match up, it's a no-go.

2
(Twenty Two)

Does not equal winning. Shitty situation though.

Atleast that's how California scratchers work. My buddy wastes his money on them all the damn time.

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:47:10 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
Atleast that's how California scratchers work. My buddy wastes his money on them all the damn time.

It makes mention of the same thing in the article. I'm going off memory of the ones gifted to me on my 18th birthday. Didn't win a damned thing.

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:51:22 PM EDT

[#5]

It their error they need to pay up. Mistake or not. Their QC was lacking and cost them $250k as far as I can see. If a company is not liable for a mistake than its a pretty fucked up.

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:52:59 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
It their error they need to pay up. Mistake or not. Their QC was lacking and cost them $250k as far as I can see. If a company is not liable for a mistake than its a pretty fucked up.

2
(Twenty Two)

What part of "it does not equal 'two'" doesn't make sense?

Posted: 8/1/2005 11:57:29 PM EDT

[#7]

It would be no different that if an add in a local newspaper read 2005 Dodge Magnum for sale $8

Missprints are not legally binding.

Posted: 8/2/2005 3:41:50 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Um..

If I recall correctly, they have the written-out version of each number on the ticket designed exactly for this problem. If the numerical and longhand doesn't match up, it's a no-go.

2
(Twenty Two)

Does not equal winning. Shitty situation though.

ETA: What is this "costs woman quarter million dollars" stuff? Did they give it to her, then demand the money back? No, so what's with the play on words?

That play on words is used in poilitics quite frequently.
Say the Democrats have a plan to raise the school funding by 20 million dollars. The Republicans have a plan to raise it by 15 milliion dollars. You can bet your dying breath that the Democrats are going to take that difference and advertise that the Republicans want to cut school funding, simply because their planned increase isn't as great.
Yep, it is stupid.

Posted: 8/2/2005 4:41:25 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Missprints are not legally binding.

+1

I'm sure that the back of the ticket, in
fine print, says something like "Not
responsible for printing or mechanical
errors."

Too bad, so sad.

Posted: 8/2/2005 4:45:08 AM EDT

[#10]

maybe she could sell it for $50,000 to some unsuspecting idiot

Posted: 8/2/2005 4:54:28 AM EDT

[#11]

somewhere in Tallahassee a "lottery official" is pocketing 250 large

Posted: 8/2/2005 4:57:17 AM EDT

[#12]

Lottery = Tax on Stupidity

Posted: 8/2/2005 4:58:40 AM EDT

[#13]

So how did the misprint "Cost" her any money? Not paying out is not the same as takeing money away from her.

Posted: 8/2/2005 5:00:49 AM EDT

[#14]

WHo pays Loto winnings people?

Sgat1r5

Posted: 8/2/2005 5:01:27 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
somewhere in Tallahassee a "lottery official" is pocketing 250 large

You're kidding...right?

Sgat1r5

Posted: 8/2/2005 5:29:31 AM EDT

[#16]

In Indiana, lottery subsidizes our license plates. So, I encourage stupid people to play the lottery as much as they want.
Sometimes, if I see a poor person in line, I try to goad them into putting that baby formula back and buying a few scratchers... The plates on my new car are expensive!

Posted: 8/2/2005 10:54:42 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
somewhere in Tallahassee a "lottery official" is pocketing 250 large

Posted: 8/2/2005 10:59:25 AM EDT

[#18]

She was scratching lotto tickets while she was driving????????

Posted: 8/2/2005 11:01:19 AM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Lottery officials originally told Coley she could have her winning ticket back, but now that they've said 'Sorry, Charlie,' they decided they'd keep the questionable ticket.

Hmmmmmm

She can't sue if the ticket gets destroyed. There would be no proof of anything.

Posted: 8/2/2005 3:20:15 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Lottery officials originally told Coley she could have her winning ticket back, but now that they've said 'Sorry, Charlie,' they decided they'd keep the questionable ticket.

Hmmmmmm She can't sue if the ticket gets destroyed. There would be no proof of anything.

They destroy the ticket and they've handed her $250,000. That would make it look like a cover up in a lawsuit. I'll bet that ticket is in a secure location waiting for the lawyer's call.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lottery ticket "misprint" costs Florida woman a quarter million dollars!

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