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Waterproof Lottery Tickets

 Slosh
 
(+5, -5) 		  [vote for,
against]

I have read numerous accounts of people buying a lottery ticket, winning some money, and then leaving it in their pocket. Then they or their spouse washes the garment, and accidentaly destroys the lottery ticket. I believe one of these stories is available to read at darwinawards.com in the personal accounts section.

That would be funny, but you wouldn't want it to happen to you. Especially if the ticket would have won you 50,000 (dollars, pounds).

So make the tickets with waterproof paper and waterproof ink and never fear of losing your winning ticket in the wash.

—DesertFox, Jul 05 2005

[link]






       Smart card lottery tokens?
—bristolz, Jul 05 2005
   

       I think most lotteries count on this very thing happening as part of their business model.
—Laimak, Jul 05 2005
   

       Given that the Darwin Awards are for people who have taken themselves out of the gene pool (or striven mightily to do so), I have a lot of trouble believing that story.   

       I favor the Premium Bond mechanism, where purchasers are registered, and tickets cannot be lost at all.
—DrCurry, Jul 05 2005
   

       why not just make the *winning* tickets waterproof?
—po, Jul 05 2005
   

       Urm it was a personal account, not a darwin award.
—DesertFox, Jul 05 2005
   

       [po], Then I'd just run into the ticket shop with a bucket of water and ransack the place.   

       This is quite darwin, [DrCurry], if you consider the fact that someone stupid enough to wash their ticket dosen't deserve the money. Its natural selection at its best.
—daseva, Jul 05 2005
   

       the tickets are safe inside the machine, silly.
—po, Jul 05 2005
   

       Lol, clever...[+]
—CloakedBeauty, Jul 05 2005
   

       Searching darwinawards.com, neither lottery nor ticket finds the story. Maybe they rotate the personal accounts from time to time or something.
—david_scothern, Jul 05 2005
   

       Maybe. I remember this story though, the guy went in the shower and the wife washed the shirt, losing them something like $1,800.
—DesertFox, Jul 05 2005
   

       Making them waterproof would make them more durable in landfills too, and that's where 99.999999999999999% of them will end up. At least right now, they are recyclable.   

       Maybe make it an option. $1 for a regular ticket, $1.50 for a waterproof ticket. That would make the tragedy deeper for the fool who not only bought a lottery ticket, and washed it, but failed to pay for the waterproof option.
—sophocles, Jul 05 2005
   

       why would they, it costs less to make it out of regular paper and it can save them even more if someone dose loose a ticket
—angered_moose, Jul 06 2005
   

       Moose, your name well describes both your reading skill and your writing ability. Read the second annotation, the one by Laimak, and do try to understand it.   

       I'm starting to see a market for waterproof ticket-keepers. Little plastic boxes, with seals and latches and beepers, should keep tickets safe and located.
—baconbrain, Jul 06 2005
   

       ahem, *little bb*, is that a nice way to treat a new halfbaker feeling their way around for the first time?
—po, Jul 06 2005
   

       No, it isn't a nice way.
—baconbrain, Jul 06 2005
   
      
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