Old people go into a convenience store and trust the clerk to tell them if their ticket won. The clerk, if (s)he sees a winning ticket, gives the schmuck 10 dollars and then hands the winning ticket worth thousands to an accomplice to collect the big bucks, as neither the connivence clerk or his family are allowed to play. The accomplice splits the dough with the clerk.
Those scams are limited to smaller prizes. Larger prizes require a ‘legal chain of possession’. Does video show the claimant buying the ticket? If not, what is the relationship of the buyer to the claimant? There are also other relevant questions that need to be answered for larger prizes.
I know in Mass you can find out how many “big” scratch tickets are left in a series. Some players focus on those tickets.
It’s not brain surgery. But the odds are still pretty long.
Have you noticed that the machine makes a loud noise and flashes the winning amount. Plus on scratch tickets you know how much you’ve won. Nice theory, but trust me...the old people that play the lottery know what’s going on. Those folks are hard core.