$5M Question: Is This a 6 Or a 26?
Printing problem spoils joy of six
WNBC
The New York State Lottery people say the "6" in the series of numbers above was supposed to be a 26.
Life just might be playing a cruel trick on a 78-year-old woman from Long Island.
She said she was shaking after she scratched off what she thought was a winning lottery ticket.
Now she's trembling because the New York State Lottery said her $5,000,000 winner is really a $20 loser.
Jeanne Consola said Thursday that she remembers back around Father's Day last summer when her son gave her his own winning lottery ticket worth $25.
What she wanted was to spend $20 -- the most she'd ever paid for a single ticket -- on a new scratch-off game. Seconds later, she needed just one more "6" for the gamble to pay off.
"I had it, so naturally I almost passed out," she said.
But when she tried to turn in the ticket, lottery officials told Consola that the "6" was really a "26." A printing problem was behind the smudge that might have wiped out the "2" that would have been just to the left of the "6."
Consola has since been in touch with an attorney, but said she doesn't feel optimistic about her chances to claim any winnings.
