WWYD? Would you mail in a big lottery ticket?

[usnuzuloose]

Living close I would drive there.

 

[bcla]

This part seems odd to me, as a lottery ticket is legally a 'bearer instrument'. Whoever comes bearing it claims the prize. You should always sign it! In my state one can claim anonymously through an LLC. I already have the very clever name of the LLC that I will establish in order to collect my winnings! And, I would never mail it in.

I looked it up, and California has an "I know it when I see it" standard for awarding a prize based on alternative validation. But they can't do it for the multistate lotteries, and have to wait for end of the claim period to end before they'll accept an alternative claim. I guess they're waiting for someone to show up with the original ticket and not an image.

https://static.www.calottery.com/-/media/Project/calottery/PWS/PDFs/Commission-Documents/March-2020/Issue-Memo-4a-Attachment.pdf​

5.3.3. Alternative Validation of Tickets Based on Substantial Proof​

1. Except for Mega Millions and Powerball prizes, pursuant to the Lottery Act, if a Claimant is unable to submit an original, winning Ticket but does submit a timely Claim Form signed under penalty of perjury, the Lottery may pay a Prize if the Claimant can establish by a showing of “substantial proof” that the Ticket is a winning Ticket and the Claimant is the Winner.
   1. Pursuant to the Lottery Act, substantial proof means any evidence that would permit the Lottery to use established confidential validation and authentication procedures to validate a Claim. Such evidence must be sufficient, relevant, and credible in light of all the circumstances. All prize payments or denials based on the substantial proof standard must be approved in advance by the Director.
   2. In no case will the Lottery make payment of a Prize based upon substantial proof until after the Claim Period for that Prize has expired.
   3. The Lottery will not process a Claim or authorize payment for any Mega Millions or Powerball Prize without submission of the original Ticket.

As for being a bearer instrument, it gets complicated. There's usually not a serious problem with small prizes, and it's generally considered a bearer instrument. However, when the prizes become bigger, there's almost always a requirement that the state lottery request surveillance video.

I wonder how this works out because there are a lot of cases where coworkers form syndicates (having photos of the tickets might help with the claim if someone tries to claim the entire prize) or where they're given out as gifts. I've gotten them as gifts from my insurance agent in the mail, so if I did win it might get interesting trying to claim a big prize if it's shown that someone else bought it.

I've even heard of one case where a dad sent his underage son in to cash in and then buy more tickets and he supposedly won a big one. But that lottery refused to cash it because they reviewed the video and discovered it was illegally purchased by a minor.

This reminds me of a previous story where someone in California actually bought a winning scratcher ticket for $20 and he thought that it won $10,000. He told his roommate, who then bought one, altered it, then swapped it with the actual winning ticket while he was sleeping. The actual winner tried to cash it in at a lottery office and was told it wasn't a winner. The roomette then brought it in later and found it was worth $10 million. But they reviewed video and the actual winner made a report to local police believing his ticket was stolen. So when the roommate came back to try and claim his prize, the police were waiting to arrest him. There was no word as to whether or not the prize was awarded.

 

[bcla]

Living close I would drive there.

There are several district lottery offices now. Oddly enough, California Lottery headquarters can't actually handle a claim in person.

If I won a big one, I wouldn't necessarily go to the closest office. I've heard that sometimes reporters find where winning tickets are purchased and stake out the closest district office looking to get a story.

 

[usnuzuloose]

There are several district lottery offices now. Oddly enough, California Lottery headquarters can't actually handle a claim in person.

If I won a big one, I wouldn't necessarily go to the closest office. I've heard that sometimes reporters find where winning tickets are purchased and stake out the closest district office looking to get a story.

I don't think I have to worry...

 

[dvcgirl67]

Ha....no, I would not mail in a winning lottery ticket. I rarely play, but will pick up a Mega Millions or Powerball ticket when they have huge jackpots....like the ones where you'd walk away with several hundred million after taxes. I know my state (NJ) recently passed a law that allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, which would fit with our plans.....to tell.....no one. I mean, eventually we'd help some family members and certainly give to charitable organizations we support, etc.....but we'd want to do significant planning and get some key players in place before telling even those closest to us that we trust implicitly. It would be harder for me to keep the secret for long, but my husband is the ultimate vault...sometimes I think he might be in the CIA .