Lottery consumers have long been vulnerable to dishonest retail assistants – and there have been plenty of documented cases of ticket fraud over the years.
So any measure to remove the temptation for a retail assistant to attempt to steal a winning ticket is most welcome.
And to that end Canada are about to introduce ticket scanning wands.
Don’t get me wrong though folks – even though ticket fraud happens, and gets reported, it is still very rare. The vast majority of retail assistants are good and honest people who are more than happy for you when you do win.
Now we’re not exactly sure how these new wands will work (does anyone have a photo they can email us?) – but they are not the same as the self check machines many of us are used to.
Instead, this puts a scanning wand in the hands of the retailer who will then scan the ticket whilst it remains in your hand.
I guess the idea is that it gives you the protection of a self scan machine, but may force the retailer to check all tickets in that same more secure way.
Whilst I’ve long advised people to check tickets yourself, a lot of people still hand their ticket over to the retailer. If the wand is the only method the retailer can use this could help reduce fraud in those cases.
Although it may still rely on the weak point of relying on customers to learn to hold on to their tickets.
How do you check your tickets? Have you ever experienced a problem getting your ‘losing’ ticket back from a sales assistant..? Let us know in the comments below.
Resources:-
Here’s some useful tips to avoid lottery tickets stolen by store clerks.
Please do add your comments below...