Jun 19, 2008 8:15 pm US/Eastern
Consumer Report: Lotto Errors Tricks Consumers
Consumers Buy Seemingly 'Winning' Tickets, But Turn Out False
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The New York Lottery is big business. It paid out $4 billion in prizes last year, with a lot of that going to instant scratch off tickets. But now, 4,500 have been yanked for looking like winners when they're anything but. CBS 2's Consumer Reporter Kirstin Cole takes a closer look at these tricky tickets.
Andee Grief loves her lottery scratch off tickets.
"The only way to win big is to play big," said Grief.
So she plunks down $20 per ticket, for the Extravaganza, with top prizes of a million or more. She was thrilled when her fiancee gave her one as a gift.
"I said wow, you finally bought me a winner," said Grief.
Her ticket showed a 2, matching another 2. The prize money was $500, but her winnings were quickly rubbed out.
"I said what's going on...why is it not valid? The 2 is matching the 2. They said the numbers on the back are not correct, you're going to have to go to the lottery center," Grief told CBS 2.
Even more heartbreaking, Flushing man, Hun Gun Byun thought he was a $2 million winner. He's so distraught, he can hardly talk about it.
"I can't talk about it," said Byun.
Both tickets were bought at the Roosevelt deli in Flushing. Cashier Joo Oh has been breaking the bad news to customers.
"Somebody brought the ticket, we checked the machine and told the customer they were not a winner," said Oh.
Thirty-four million Extravaganza tickets have been printed. Seven have been found to have problems. The lottery found a printing snafu on Monday, saying the ink was so faint on some numbers that they were only partially visible, resulting in losing tickets appearing to be winners.
CBS 2's Kirstin Cole asked NY Lottery Director Gordon Medenical about the lottery's credibility:
CBS 2: "Should they feel cheated after getting what they believe is a winning ticket to find out they're just losers?"
Medenical: "Quite frankly, people get hopeful. They get wishful. We're here to help them."
In the past, lottery officials said people have been tempted to tamper with tickets to make them appear to be winners, which is criminal fraud and can be prosecuted. Anyone with one of these tricky tickets is advised to bring it to a lottery center to have it examined and verified.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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