Seven Eleven On Corner Of Harbor And Adams refusal to give money on lotto win!! Costa Mesa California

From what it sounds like the OP is not complaining about getting the $18 in cash. They are complaining because they could not get $2 on the tickets that were a "ticket" winner.

I do not know if this is an official regulation or not, but the ticket did say "ticket" not "cash". So it does not appear that they need to offer cash, perhaps there could be exceptions such as if they for some reason were out of tickets of that dollar value.

Even though you could go to other stores, or even this one in the past, does not make it right. They could be the ones violating the rules. This location could have gotten audited from the state and was told they could not do that anymore. We don't know, but as long as they were going to honor what is on the ticket(ie ticket) then there is no rip off.

The prize won on the Tickets is a Free Ticket. The prize does not say 1.00. I think that the storess that pay cash instead of a ticket are the ones that are wrong. There was no mention of ir but I am assuming the Original Poster got the 18.00 in Cash because he is not mentioning that they wanted him to take 20 tickets.

There is no ripoff here, the store was just literally following the rules.

I know they are not listed on the California State Lottery website (I checked it out) but like I said. The retailers have the option. Also, I could buy a ticket at one retailer, scratch it off and redeem it right across the street. (Had to do this once because of a computer error). Here in California, you can buy them anywhere, and redeem them anywhere.

I could not find anywhere that allows a California retailer to force you to purchase lottery tickets instead of receiving cash payment. I'll gamble that it is also true in any state that sells lottery tickets. That requires a plain and simple notice on each lottery ticket.

However, if the retailer does not have the funds to redeem a ticket, they can deny payment and then you will have to send it into the lottery commission for redemption. Denying payment because they don't have $2 is ridiculous. AZ does not require winning tickets to be redeemed at the place of purchase, CA does (unless it has changed since the website was published). All states give you the option of redeeming winning tickets at their equivalent lottery commissions.

What this retailer is doing is raising the number of tickets sold to get the incentive payments and increase the chances of receiving the bonus for selling a winning ticket. The more tickets sold, the greater the chance of winning?

Parts of the following may also be true in other states. California pays retailers 4.5% to 6% commission for each ticket sold based upon the type of terminal used. There is also an incentive payment to retailers who sell a lot of tickets. And additionally, if the retailer sells a winning ticket, they get .5% of the prize amount. Now a small percentage on $1 is not much to an individual, but to a retailer who may sell tens of thousands of tickets over a year's time, that small percentage can be a significant amount of cash ($1000 ticket sales x 5% = $50 per day = $18250 per year).

Write a letter to the lottery commission describing the situation. They may launch an investigation. There are rules that retailers must follow or they may lose their privilage to sell lottery tickets.

Like Rloewen suggested, take your business elsewhere.

I am not a representative of the California State Lottery, but I can tell you from experience that 7-11 has the option to give you the Free tickets or the $2. It is entirely up the them. Most places that have only the ticket dispensing machine, (ie Grocery stores, gas stations) will give you the $2. However if they have the tickets behind the counter, they will usually give you the free tickets. This is not a rip-off. However I know how you feel. I recommend if you want the money, go to a grocery store and redeem them there. The tickets can be redeemed anywhere in California that sells California Lottery Tickets and Scratchers.