I won the lottery. I don’t care what it costs. – Jack Whittaker
How do you prove that something that you have lost is yours? Equally so how do you prove that something you have found should be yours? That was the dilemma facing both Dorothy McDonagh and Amanda Stacey.
Ms Stacey, discovered a lottery ticket on the floor of her local supermarket in Swindon only to find that it was a winning one worth £30,000 GBP. She and husband Michael cashed the windfall and spent half of it on new carpets, treats for their children and paying off their debts.
However this did not sit well with the Ms McDonagh, who convinced Camelot, the lottery operator that the slip was hers. The Stacy’s were given an 11 month suspended sentence for theft and dishonesty.
Now how does someone proof that the ticket was theirs? They can memorise the numbers as much as they want but at the end of the day, if you lose your ticket you cannot be that shocked if someone finds it and uses it.
Much like if there is a small amount of money found on the ground, you would not walk for miles to ask did anyone lose it. If someone’s wallet or purse was found and it had identification of that person that is a different thing altogether, I think efforts should be made to return it or to hand it in to the Police.
With that action you are making a choice and one that is judged on your character and honesty. If an ad would have been placed to say “Lottery Ticket found in Supermarket in Swindon” the world and their Uncle would have descended on it and you may have heard 20 different stories as to how the ticket belonged to them.
It is a tough one to call. Is it considered stealing? Can you really call it theft? Maybe if they had donated the funds to charity instead of spending it on themselves, there would have been more thought of them and less chance of this ending up in court.
Either way, when money comes into an argument people definitely lose the run of themselves and a different character is shown. Sometimes it is not a pleasant sight.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 and is filed under Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.
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Paula Says:
Here’s ONE thing to consider – and it’s a big one – on the back of EVERY sold lottery ticket is the IDENTIFICATION number of that ticket.
The only way in which I would have believed either one of the women is if one of them had had the presence of mind to write down that number – NOT the “winning” number mind you – but, the IDENTIFICATION number found ON THE BACK of that ticket and presented it – better still – have a photostated copy of the number on the ticket – that would have convinced me, easily!
April 25th, 2009 at 7:25 pm