$1.25? Really? Lottery players, come here; please

avatar for gothamyte
gothamyte
from that Adam Westsiiiide of Gotham
True story that once happened to me....years ago, (I can't remember exactly when; at least a decade ago or more), I remember one day randomly checking some of my lottery tickets at a small store. I can't remember exactly what lottery I was playing--whether it was Pick 3, Pick 4, Mega Millions, etc. [And honestly, I'm not much of a gambler or lottery player. I just remember checking my tickets.]

So, I dunno what it's like where you are, but back then, here in my east coast state, they had (and still have) these 'crappy' / dinky (hand-sized) li'l electronic machines where folks could self-check their tickets. (Nowadays it's a 6-foot tall, self-service digital machine -- as big as a soda machine.)

Anyways, I remember checking my tickets and the li'l hand-sized dinky machine shows on its tiny screen: "Congratulations, Winner! $1.25". I'm not much of a gambler or lottery player, I'm happy I won, I present my ticket to the cashier. It's a small store. Suddenly the air just feels funny.

He hands me back $1.25--a single Dollar and a Quarter. Happy to win, I collect my money, walk away.

It's not until like weeks later, it pops in my head: wait a minute? Do winning tickets really pay out in COIN CHANGE? I don't think I'd heard that before? I thought all lottery winnings were dollar amounts, no coins...? And my apologies if I bought this up before and forgot...

So, it dawns on me: did I actually win $1.25 million? I mean how can a dinky machine correctly express millions, if I did win millions lol?

I couldn't remember the store or cashier where I cashed out or anything. I'm not a lottery player. This was years ago. Who knows if I played when it was one of those big Powerball days or something.

I remember it was a small store and just me and the cashier dude. And I just remember him acting so weird after I gave him the ticket. But I never connected anything because I'm not a lottery player.

I thought later, who knows if he checked my ticket, he coulda scanned my ticket, saw the amount and faked cashing it out, just opened the register and gave me $1.25.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe $1.25 is accurate. I just don't think I ever heard COIN CHANGE being a part of lottery winnings. lol. I mean, it'd be illegal for the cashier to rob me like that and risky. But I've never heard of that...

What chall think?

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avatar for gothamyte
gothamyte
a month ago
Oh and I never checked the news to see if anyone claimed anything. I wasn't much of a gambler or lottery player. I never noticed if there were any stories, coulda been and I never thought to pay attention...
avatar for DandyDan
DandyDan
a month ago
It's possible depending on where and when, but that has never happened to me
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