Man says lottery ticket message is offensive
ELMIRA, New York (WTVD) -- A New York State man not only didn't win when he bought a scratch-off lottery ticket, he says he's offended by its message.
Nick Lynough bought the ticket in a bar in Elmira, New York last month. After scratching it off, he couldn't believe what he read.
"Unfortunately it says 'YOU ELMIRA TRASH' on it. I'm a little offended by it for being a local here in Elmira, New York," said Lynough.
The ticket for the lottery's new Wheel of Fortune game lists three separate categories that must be scratched off: person, place, and thing.
"Well, when I looked at it, I thought it was a fake ticket. Usually, most of my friends used to play some of those old fake ticket tricks on me and that's what I first thought it was. Unfortunately, it was a loser and I was like, holy cow, I can't believe it literally said that. I was offended by it," said Lynough.
The ticket was taken to the local sheriff's office, who first thought it may have been tampered with.
After investigating, it was discovered that the ticket was real and coincidentally sold in Elmira.
"They could have had it as for any other city such as Oneonta, they could have had it for Binghamton, They could have had it for Ithaca. But why Elmira?" asked Lynough.
A spokesman for the New York Lottery said the arrangement of words was completely random, coincidental, and most importantly - unintentional.
"As soon as the ticket was brought to our attention, we immediately contacted the ticket printing vendor to remove the word "trash" from being a possible result for any future game," said Lee Park.
The lottery says the odds of the three words being selected in that particular order are 1 in 900 million - meaning you've got a better chance of winning the Powerball or Mega Millions.
