How Conveeenient.
Posted on 08/02/2005 12:12:07 AM PDT by MissouriConservative
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.
In other news, Florida has reported a sharp decline in lottery ticket purchases. Women and minorities hardest hit.
I pick up a lottery ticket once in a great while. This would really suck.
Yep. If it is really a misprint, then why keep the ticket?
Maybe they fear tampering. I'm sure it could be subpoenaed.
How Conveeenient.
This sounds completely corrupt. Was the ticket issued by Florida? Is it official? If so, then it is the winning ticket, case closed...
Misprint, my rump.
The lottery has to pay the 250K.
That's what I thought. If it was a mistake in printing, you'd think that they would splash the picture everywhere for people to see. Instead, they are acting like there is something to hide.
All it does is cause tongues to wag....which is what is happening. There is something fishy going on in Florida.
The lottery equivalent of a hanging chad.
If the twos are printed like a part of the lottery number, they should pay up. If it's not on the same line, that's different. I'd say Florida is guilty until proven innocent on this one.
I can see them having to pay up. It's quite simple...stores and other companies have to give you the price on the shelf, even if it is a "misprint." I see nothing different here. If they made a genuine mistake, then it is a 250K mistake that they need to own up to....do what is right.
Was this in Broward County?:)
Seminole....at least that is what Google says. Maybe the "hanging/pregnant/clinging for life chad" thing is spreading.
Misprinted Money spends even better than correctly printed Money.
Printed by the Government, and they Print LOTS of it as well.
Sounds like Payday to me, I'd pursue it
And imagine the horrible publicity on this one. I can see the lottery taking a hit in the wallet on this one. 250K is not a lot to pay to keep the tickets flowing.
I can see some "pain and suffering" being added onto the 250K...might cost them a lot more, especially if the jury box is full of lottery players.
I would have to comment that The Lord really had nothing to do with this one...
Mark
Right, it is not a lot of money for the state.
The state would probably get 20K right back in taxes, so I doubt she wouls see more than 140k of the 250k.
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