Y’know the Oregon Lottery self-check machines found in any lottery-equipped store or bar?
When I’ve had a winning ticket, it’s always said:
Congratulations Please See Retailer
…and then I’ve been disappointed to find that I’ve won a whopping four bucks.
I’ve wondered if the machines say anything different if the ticket is a big winner. So I asked one of the Daves at my local market about it last night. He said that if the amount of the winnings is over $600 (the limit that a retailer is required to pay out), it says:
Congratulations Please Report to Salem
or on the retail machines it says:
Congratulations Retailer Call Salem
So… good to know.
Dave had no idea if a ticket that won the top jackpot got a different message or not. He’d never seen anyone win that much.
Imagine checking a ticket late on a Friday night, in some convenience store, and finding out that you were a big winner? You’d have to wait through the whole weekend, knowing only that your little slip of paper was worth more than $600. Unless there’s a 24-hour hotline you can call…
That would be the longest weekend of my life. I’d probably have to spend lots of mental effort not burning through my life’s savings.