$258 million Powerball jackpot

[trax1]

Not at all. Lottery Fraud happens more often than you may think.

You hand a dishonest clerk winning ticket, they scan a losing ticket they have already scanned and then they pocket the winning ticket, or hand you 2 or 4 dollars for hitting some numbers when in fact you have won thousands, in some cases hundreds of thousands.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30550956

Always ask for your tickets back, win or lose.

Oh I see what your talking about, I thought you meant like they rigged a fake ticket or something, yeah I guess that could happen.

[trax1]

I haven't bought a lottery ticket in a few years but all you have to do with the Kansas Powerball is read the numbers.  Once you buy the ticket, the clerk should never have to look at it again.

A lot of people give there ticket to the clerk the day after the drawing to have it scanned to see if they won, especially people who buy hundreds of dollars in tickets because it's a lot easier that way then going through each ticket yourself one by one.

[Nwbie]

Happened already I think in TX, clerk scanned ticket - said not a winner, next day went to claim big prize and moved back to Pakistan or India whatever..
In illinois you can scan your own ticket with a reader on the counter.

[68ZooM]

Thats why you sign every ticket

[avionix]

Here in Florida, the scanner will print winner or loser on the ticket so that it cannot be used again for any purpose.

[Tango]

Thats why you sign every ticket

Guess they never played powerball. 

[-tronski-]

In Aus all lottery wins (powerball etc) are a lump sum and tax free!  

And the ticket result is displayed so you can see exactly what or if you've won anything when the ticket is scanned

 Tronsky

[Reschke]

Was hoping to hit the lottery jackpot in Germany a couple of years ago when it was 10 million Euro and the USD exchange rate was something like 1 Euro was worth 1.65 USD. That would have made my day if I could have won that one. I would have told my boss to kiss my arse at the trade show.

[oakranger]

Kansas post tips on protecting your winnings:

http://www.kslottery.com/LotteryInfo/TicketSecurityTips.htm

[Vulcan]

I buy and check my tickets online

[flight17]

payments are the smartest option, but man having an extra 100mil after i buy what i "need" collecting interest would be nice...

[oakranger]

I think i would pay HiTech 1 million to make B-29, P-61, Ki-43, Pe-4, and Mig-1

[Raptor]

payments are the smartest option, but man having an extra 100mil after i buy what i "need" collecting interest would be nice...

Financially it is smarter to take the lump sum and put it in a Savings account to accrue interest, however most people want to go out and buy things they want.

[WMLute]

Financially it is smarter to take the lump sum and put it in a Savings account to accrue interest, however most people want to go out and buy things they want.

Lump sum is the smarter play in the long run.

[BiPoLaR]

Lump sum is the smarter play in the long run.

yup, the government rapes you less