Would you (moral question)

Soldato
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Was watching BBC news this morning about someone who found a lottery ticket worth £30,000 on the floor and took claimed the money. The person who bought the ticket found out and called the police and the case is now going to court/has been to court (was only half listening) and the person who found the ticket has to pay the money back.

Now, the presenters were talking about this with a couple of guests and whether or not you would keep the ticket or hand it in. All 4 on the show said they would not keep it and all but 1 of the emails said the same.

Who here would hand in a winning lottery ticket to the police in the hope that the person who bought the ticket would get it back?

I'm in 2 minds, part of me would think "sod it, I found it I'll have the money as the buyer would never find it again". The other part me thinks "What if I had lost it". But then, who would honestly think of going to a police station over a missing lottery ticket?
 
I would keep it imo. Even if i saw the person drop it. Its their own fault for being so careless. I mean when i buy a loto ticket. The first thing i do is put it safely in my wallet in the zipped part.
All i can say is You learn from you mistakes.

But if they dropped their wallet/purse then i would give them a shout.
 
I don't understand this at all, I can't see why anyone would hand it in, most lottery tickets are paid for with cash, how would they trace it?
surely it depends on the point at which they found it. You're not obliged to hand in any money you find under a certain amount, (tenner is it?) if it was found before the draw it's only worth £1, after it's £30k obv
 
If I was walking along and saw someone drop it then yeah i'd give it them back.

If I was walking along and there was just a ticket blowing about on the floor, well then that's mine.

To me its just the same as finding a £20 note laying on the floor, there's no way of proving that particular note is yours so handing it in wouldn't help, same goes for the lottery ticket, how did they prove it was theirs? AFAIK you don't get a receipt or anything with them, the ticket is your POP...
 
As far as I'm concerned it's not "real" money at that time - and there's no proof that that ticket actually belongs to anyone. Unless they start stamping it with an ID, time/date stamp I doubt it can ever be enforced/proven.

Personally I'd find it very hard to not cash it in as £30k would be great. It's a bit of a crappy situation to be in though - and I feel for the people that lost the ticket - but at the same time I don't truly believe it's their property.
 
How the hell did this come to light?

So person A purchased ticket then dropped ticket, then person B finds ticket and realises it's worth £30k.

Person B then stupidly admits they found it, then person A says it's their ticket?

Is that correct?

If it was me, I would have done exactly the same, I don't see why person B should have to pay the money back, as said above it's just like finding £20 on the floor, the person who originally found it would have no clue it's worth £30k.
 
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As far as I'm concerned it's not "real" money at that time - and there's no proof that that ticket actually belongs to anyone. Unless they start stamping it with an ID, time/date stamp I doubt it can ever be enforced/proven.

Personally I'd find it very hard to not cash it in as £30k would be great. It's a bit of a crappy situation to be in though - and I feel for the people that lost the ticket - but at the same time I don't truly believe it's their property.

This
 
BBC.co.uk

The couple were given 11-month suspended sentences for theft in April and now a judge will rule on who should keep the remaining cash.

Bloody hell, that's excessive to say the least!

A spokesman for Camelot said: "We have a clear lost-and-found policy. If a member of the public finds the ticket they should send it to our prize payout department, setting out in writing the circumstances of the find and the steps they took [if any] to reunite the ticket with its rightful owner.

"If no corresponding prize claim or lost ticket notice has been received, the prize may be paid to the finder at Camelot's discretion after the expiry of the 180-day claim deadline."

Never knew that.
 
What I don't understand is how they knew who found it, and how they knew it was the lost ticket... did the people cash it in and then say they found it?
This story doesn't quite add up as I don't see how a lottery ticket can be traced and proven to be the lost ticket? The odds of someone else picking the same numbers are pretty damn good, right?
 
What I don't understand is how they knew who found it, and how they knew it was the lost ticket... did the people cash it in and then say they found it?
This story doesn't quite add up as I don't see how a lottery ticket can be traced and proven to be the lost ticket? The odds of someone else picking the same numbers are pretty damn good, right?

I assume they must have paid on card. Thus linking the unique ticket number to the card, He claimed it. Then the person came forward and said he lost it.
 
I assume they must have paid on card. Thus tyiinuing the unique ticket number tio the card, He claimed it. Then the person came forward and said he lost it.

I didn't know you could pay on card in the shops. Everywhere I have ever bought a ticket is cash only.
 
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