The best ways to check your lottery tickets after the draw
For most people, when they buy their lottery ticket, they usually put it in their wallets or on top of a dresser, or stash it away somewhere else. The ticket is out of mind until the draw takes place. When the winning combination in the draw is announced, most people quickly check their ticket by manually comparing the drawn numbers to the numbers on their ticket, and not finding a win, throw it away. But a quick check of a ticket could be a way of tossing out a free ticket, or a million dollars. You’ve spent some of your hard earned money to buy those lottery tickets, so you need to check the results thoroughly.
Lottery checking methods
Many players have done the quick check method and have thrown out valid winning tickets that could have been redeemed for a prize. They could have even missed winning a free ticket, let alone a monetary prize. On the other side of this issue, some players have quick-checked their ticket, thinking they have won only a few hundred dollars, but when they check it at a retailer, realize they have actually won a few thousand. So avoid manually quick-checking your lottery ticket and do a thorough check instead.
The best way to check your ticket is to have a retailer check it on their lottery system, if they allow you to do that. If your retailer does not check tickets for players, then some retailers have an actual ticket self-checker scanner usually at the display where you would fill out your selection form. You simply hold your ticket’s bar code under the scanner and it will instantly let you know if your lottery ticket is a winner or not. Always check your ticket twice to make sure it says the same thing each time. If you get any other message on the second check, scan it a third and fourth time just to ensure that you get a consistent message. If you don’t, take your ticket over to the retailer, explain the issue, and have them check it. If there are any inconsistencies in the result given to you, ask for your ticket back and contact the lottery operator to inquire.
Make sure you check properly
Some lottery operators that sell lottery tickets online, usually have some type of app that lets you create an account and buy your tickets on their website. You also are able to select an option to scan a ticket. When you click on that option, a window comes up and your camera turns on. You line up the line on the window with the bar-code on your ticket and the app will automatically access the operator’s ticket database and let you know if it is a winning ticket. Even if it is not a winning ticket, keep it and check it again at the retailer, just to be sure.
Never trust your own self to visually check your ticket against the drawn number combination. Mistakes can be made and you may just throw away that multi-million dollar jackpot. Or possibly a free ticket. It doesn’t matter what the prize is, you paid your money and won your prize. Make sure you get it!