A player reached out to us with a question about unsold lottery tickets he occasionally sees in stores, and whether it’s OK to buy them. The short answer is: That’s fine in lotto games. But you wouldn’t want to do that in an InstaPlay game.
Here are details:
In Powerball®, Mega Millions®, Lotto America® and Lucky for Life®, tickets printed from the lottery terminal can’t be canceled. It’s a security feature designed to protect the integrity of the plays being purchased.
But sometimes, a player will decide not to buy a lotto ticket once it’s been printed. It could be for any number of reasons. Maybe the person didn’t realize until they got their wallet out that they didn’t have cash or their debit card with them. Maybe they just didn’t like the numbers on that particular ticket and decided not to buy it.
In instances like that, the ticket involved is still valid and the plays on it remain eligible for the drawing involved. The retail location is welcome to sell that ticket to another customer. But if the store isn’t able to sell the ticket before the drawing, that business is the owner of the ticket. There have been times when the company involved claimed a lottery prize, and that’s perfectly fine.
In the case of InstaPlay games, you would not want to buy a ticket that was printed from the lottery terminal before you arrived.
InstaPlay tickets are “scratchless” because they don’t have a security coating that needs to be removed to see if you’ve won a prize. The graphics and play instructions to determine if you’ve won are printed on the front of ticket.
For that reason, you only want to buy an InstaPlay ticket if it’s printed on the spot. As a security feature to help you know that’s the case, the lottery terminal plays a cash register sound whenever an InstaPlay ticket is printed. So listen for that audio when you make your purchase -- it lets you know the ticket you asked for is ready!
Hi, Chris. Thank you for reaching out to us with your question. In a situation like you have referenced, the store involved would usually handle the balancing of the transactions as part of its daily accounting procedures. But if a customer ever has a question, we're glad to help. If the person can provide specifics about the store involved and time of day when their tickets were checked -- which you have done -- we can do further research to try to help. I will ask a member of the Iowa Lottery's Security team to reach out to you at the email address you've provided with your blog comment. Please be on the look-out for an email from the Iowa Lottery! Or, if you would like to talk with our Security team directly, you're welcome to call us at 515-725-7900.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | August 29, 2023 at 01:20 PM
I just cashed in several winning tickets, and before I did, I added them up, several times, and always coming up with 141.00. I cashed them where I buy them , at Hyvee gas , in Newton, Iowa. After she scanned my tickets, she came up with 125.00.Iknow that it was wrong, but there ws a line of customers, waiting, in line. So I didn't have her do it over. I signed each ticket. This isn't the first time, this has happened. Another time that I cashed my tickets in, the cashier, said she couldn't cash more than 100.00 , but gave me 103.00, because she already scanned the ticket, so I went to Hyvee food store, to cash the rest, which was over 100.00. My question, is do you go over these tickets, to see if a mistake was made? Chris McConnell
Posted by: Chris McConnell | August 29, 2023 at 01:03 PM
i quit never win i play 200 dollars a week every day see ya i am putting my money in bank a big hoax
Posted by: carol a williams wilkinson | August 29, 2023 at 10:44 AM
Hi, Dale. InstaPlay tickets have features from both lotto and instant-scratch games, but the way you describe the games is accurate. All lottery terminals in the state connect to a central pool of tickets available in the particular InstaPlay game you're playing, and when you buy a ticket, you get the next available play in the game. As with any lottery purchase, the outcome of your play when you buy it is unknown. Here is a link to the page on our website that provides full details about our InstaPlay games:
https://ialottery.com/Pages/Games-InstaPlay/InstaPlay.aspx
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | August 28, 2023 at 09:10 AM
How does the instant game work? Do you just take a chance that the ticket they print for you is a winner?
Posted by: Dale Laubscher | August 27, 2023 at 10:14 AM