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Be Aware of Fake Lottery Tickets
Authorities are warning of fake
"navideño"- Christmas - lottery
tickets that are being sold on
the streets, as a group of
unscrupulous are taking
advantage of the holiday season
lottery ticket sales.
Several cases of the fake
lottery tickets have been
reported already to the
authorities.
The first case was that of a
woman who purchased an "entero"
- an entire series of a number -
without realizing that they were
fake.
Sergio Ramírez, president of the
Junta de Protección Social de
San José (JPS), confirmed the
fake lottery tickets, however,
said the number of fakes is very
low and there is nothing they
can do for now as there are
still waiting on formal
complaints by the public before
any action can be taken.
The JPS lottery tickets - the
real ones - have a number of
security measures built in,
similar to the printing of
currency, said Ramírez. But,
like currency, it can be copied
and falsified and the public has
to be alerted, the JPS official
said.
At first look, the real and
fakes look the same. However,
the real tickets have watermarks
that are visible under
ultraviolet light with a band
with the letters JPS, for
example, while the fakes do not.
The ink used to print the
numbers are also another tell
tale sign of the difference and
an invisible ink with the draw
date is another feature of the
real tickets.
A copied lottery ticket using a
laser photocopier doesn't have
all the security features
including the weight of the
paper used and can easily be
spotted, like currency, holding
it to the light. Another
important feature is that the
photocopies will quickly smear
with a drop of water, where the
real tickets will hold up.
The JPS has sold to date 84.06%
of the issues or in real
numbers, 420.920 lottery tickers
for a total value of
¢10.355.645.600 (us$20.1 million
dollars). Left on sale are still
79.710 tickets.
The draw is Sunday 17 December.
And as usual, the draw will be
held live in the Plaza de la
Cultura, next to the Teatro
Nacional, in downtown San José
and broadcast live on all
television stations.
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