A lot of the lottery players at the tobacco shop near my home aren't exactly the internet or newspaper types. You'd be amazed at the number that come in to have the clerk "check" their ticket. I suspect that with a huge jackpot that is widely publicized before hand a lot of people that aren't regular players will buy a ticket and assume they need to have it validated at the source.
This would be a good reason for having those automatic ticket readers in every place that sells those tickets — so you just put it under the scanner and it says if you’re a winner or not — no human intervention required ... :-)
I don’t know about your state, but I’ve seen them in other places before and that’s the way to go, I would say. It only takes a mere few seconds and you’ve got a “read” on the ticket and you know whether it’s a winner or not...