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Before the story airs: Some lottery sellers not playing by the rules

"I won!" yelled the woman next to me in the convenience store. It was only $10, but she was excited to learn she'd won some cash with a scratch-off ticket. She knew immediately she won, but some lottery players juggling loads of tickets don't always keep close track. And some tickets aren't as simple as matching numbers to determine winners. Players often rely on the store clerk to confirm whether they won or lost.

Posted Updated
Cullen Browder
By
Cullen Browder
, WRAL Investigates reporter

"I won!" yelled the woman next to me in the convenience store. It was only $10, but she was excited to learn she’d won some cash with a scratch-off ticket. She knew immediately she won, but some lottery players juggling loads of tickets don’t always keep close track. And some tickets aren’t as simple as matching numbers to determine winners. Players often rely on the store clerk to confirm whether they won or lost.

That reality got WRAL Investigates thinking about the level of trust between the lottery seller and the player. Clearly, the vast majority of lottery vendors pay up when they’re passed a winning ticket. That’s a main reason people keep playing. However, an undercover investigation shows some lottery sellers aren’t playing by the rules – clerks caught on-camera falsely telling customers their winning tickets are losers. It turns out, those clerks later tried to cash in the winning tickets for themselves.

On Thursday, WRAL investigates cheating lottery clerks. Find out what the North Carolina Education Lottery does to keep vendors honest. We’ll show you the technology and the investigations designed to make sure lottery players get their winnings.

Watch the undercover investigation Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

 

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