re: Winning Powerball Ticket - Did not pay with cash

Stealing scratch off tickets is not as simple as it sounds.

You can't just take a box of scratch offs from the shelf, go home and sit down with your lucky nickel, hoping to get lucky.

Boxes/batches of scratch offs have to FIRST be activated through the retailers lottery computer That only happens when they reload the ticket dispenser.

You will be in trouble if you try to claim a prize on an unactivated ticket.

ETA; don't ALTER your ticket to make it look like a winner. When they scan the ticket's serial number, the computer will know if it's a legit winner or not.

ETA2: don't try to make an arrangement with a lottery official to split the prize in exchange for them manually setting the winning numbers and giving them to you before the drawing. More trouble for you.

Basically, don't be a dumbass.

Good luck to some of you on that