While walking down a busy street you find a lottery ticket
in the gutter.  That night those same numbers come in as 
a 4 million dollar winner.  What do you do?

22 responses total.

Well, obviously, I'd cash it in!  I mean, what else?  There
would be no way to trace whose ticket it was, and therefore
why have that greedy glutonous lotto company keep 4 million
extra?

Do I have any reason to think it was lost rather than tossed?  (TBH, though,
I'd never have the chance - if I'd picked the thing up I'd have stuffed it
in the nearest trash can without a second look.)  But without any fairly
specific way of finding out who lost it, I would keep it if the example
was as stated.  If I heard that someone claimed to have lost a winning ticket
near there, I'd turn it over without a second thought.

(I would keep it. Without a question.)

I'd keep it, unless I heard good evidence that somebody had lost it. 
Remember, to the person who lost it, when they lost it, it would only have
been worth a buck or two, as it would have been when I found it.  It got
valuable only later, so they may not even realize they've lost anything. 
I consider finding a lottery ticket that then wins very different than
finding a lot of money.  The lottery is already a gamble with almost no
chance of winning, and losing the ticket only slightly worsens your chances.

I'm not sure it is much different, finding a winning lottery ticket
instead of cash.  The point would be it's not your money.  You didn't
choose the numbers or pay the buck.  You got lucky because someone
else lost something they owned.

Now, for those who would have kept the ticket...  What do you do
when you are in the process of claiming the cash and someone
comes forward and claims that ticket is one they lost.  She can
prove she's been playing the same numbers for weeks and weeks,
she knows where the ticket was purchased (you don't) and can 
pretty much tell you where you must have found it.  She is 
well known as someone who buys tickets every week (you don't). 
And she wants her ticket back.  She is threating to go to the
newspapers with the story. She is seeking legal representation.
Now what do you do?

This response has been erased.

I don't know enough about the lottery to judge what would be good evidence
that it was theirs and what wouldn't be, but if people who knew what they
were talking about said what the person had was good evidence then of
course I would give it back.  I just don't have enough information to come
up with the appropriate what ifs.

in the first case, i'd keep it.  what was i supposed to do?  give it
to someone random?  in the second case, i'd try to determine the truth.

Would it come down to a reasonable certainty of ownership on your
part before you'd give the ticket to person claiming it was hers or
would you need a "legal" decision?

Reasonable certainty.

I think I'd respond just as scg would.  I hope I would.

yes, reasonable certainty.

(with that added bit, I don't know.)

If someone, out of the blue & with no known prior pattern of doing this,
claimed to have lost something as rarely-found-lying-around as this,
within (say) a couple of blocks of where I'd found it, I'd be convinced.
I think if this person always tried to con people out of winning tickets,
someone involved would know about it.  (There are sure to be *lots* of
people involved in the verification of a prize of millions.  Something
like this would be common gossip if it happened even a couple of times
before.)

I might offer to sell the ticket to them for a small fee--only a couple tens
of thousands--out of the goodness of my heart.  Ha!  Seriously tho, if it 
was obvious that the ticket was theirs, I'd give it to them.  If the issue
was in doubt, I'd get legal help.  But, if there was any reasonable doubt
that the ticked wasn't theirs, I wouldn't give it to them.  This is a lot
of money we're talking about, here.  

re: stock responses.  I *SERIOUSLY* DO *NOT* *APPROVE* OF GAMBLING.
What you do is your business.  What I do is of concern to me, & to 
those to whom I give account.  If *I* found a lottery ticket, &
recognized it, I would feel that I ought to find the owner or
throw the ticket away.  If I had not done so, & happened to learn
that it had won large sums, I would be in a quandary -- I might
take the money & try to salve my conscience by doing
unselfish things with it.  If someone else offered a reasonable
evidence of the ticket's having been his, I would expect to give it up 
& feel guilty for wishing that I didn't have to.

Point 1: Lottery ticket with no apparent owner.
Point 2: Said ticket worth ridiculously large amount of $$$.
I, personally, would take said ticket to another city nearbyto claim cash.

Absolutely

If I found such a ticket, I would cash it in as soon as I possibly could.  
If someone was able to make me believe that the ticket was theirs, I would
give them all but my 10% "reward".  They should be very happy, and so would
I.

Immediately call the police and request an escort to lottery headquarters, call
ahead to lottery headquarters to inform them of my name and address and request
anonymity and that no report be made to the press and no personal information
be released.  A simple life and a quiet life is best.

  Lottery tickets are bearer instruments. If I didn't see who dropped it,
there would be no question about ownership.

Lottery, schmottery.

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