if you found a winning lottery ticket.....

[Smowball]

What would you do with it? Just say you saw a ticket laying on the floor somewhere public,maybe a pub or shop - picked it up and stuck it in your pocket. then you get home and check the numbers....and its a winner - £1 million.

Would you keep it for a while and see if anybody reports a missing ticket, and then claim it?
Would you claim it straight away?
Would you take it back to where you found it??

[Canary42]

I would return it to Camelot.

I seem to remember a case some time ago where a couple had to pay back winnings claimed in just such a situation when the original purchaser declared it lost and was able to prove to the Court it was theirs.

[giveup]

What a dilemma.Honestly dont know.

[rowanwitch]

I think I'd possibly take it to the police station show the person at the desk what it was then seal it in an envelope which we'd both sign then go back after the required period and claim it trouble is that would take me past the claim point with camelot I think

[Canary42]

Re my earlier post, details can be found at

http://www.metro.co.u...have-to-pay-half-back

[cazzz1975]

on the upside they used the money to clear their debts

[Smowball]

How on earth would somebody else prove that it was them that had bought it??

[Canary42]

Proof beyond reasonable doubt by date time place of purchase, other selections on that ticket possibly.

[rowanwitch]

They kept a reciept for the sale and possibly the slip they'd marked their numbers on

[NOX]

I would claim it straight away, but if someone contested it hand it back immediately. Assuming no-one ever did I'd give a lot to worthy causes and people since it was a piece of dumb luck it came my way in the future.

[Smowball]

Ahh she kept the receipt so I assume with the time on it they could look at their cameras in store. But I never keep my receipts, think I might now!

[EvianBaby]

I suppose you could just claim it (if you got that far) then stick it in a high interest account for a few months.

Then if someone came knocking you could reach an agreement.

[rowanwitch]

but a lucky dip is a different matter but hope it was somewhere without cctv or they could match the footage to the time... s0dd1t not worth the hassle

[Smowball]

Good idea nox/EB.

Hmmm..........almost hope I don't find one now lol

[zebo]

There was a case locally recently in which a man asked a shopkeeper to check his ticket, he told him No luck. The shopkeeper's relative later claimed about £200k on the ticket but they were caught out. The Lottery were suspicious because of the time lapse between it being scanned, which is logged, and the claim being made. The shopkeeper, his wife and the relative were all jailed.

[mike11111]

There is a huge fallacy here which renders the whole scenario extremely improbable. For it to be feasible the person would have to be someone who picks up discarded tickets in the hope that they may be valuable. The question should really be: " If you saw a discarded lottery ticket lying on the ground would you pick it up &c.." It's like picking up a discarded cigarette packet in the hope that there's one left in.