A WETM reporter in Elmira shows the offensive New York Lottery's ticket. VIDEO: WETM

Could you be insulted by a lottery ticket? Unlikely... it's just a collection of non-threatening numbers.

But two players discovered that the unfortunate choice of words on a New York Lottery scratch card looked like a direct insult when the ticket was scratched off.

Nick Lynogh and the offensive scratch-off ticket.

Local Elmira man Nick Lynogh bought a scratch ticket in one of New York Lottery's newest games, but he was gobsmacked when he scratched the message.

Not only was it a losing ticket, but it spelt out "YOU ELMIRA TRASH" in the word game section.

The bar where Nick Lynogh bought his ticket.

The game lists three separate categories that a purchaser must scratch off and match up the missing letters. The three categories are listed as "Person", "Place" and "Thing."

And that's when the combination of words made up the offensive message.

According to the Gaming Commission, the odds of those words being selected in that order are 1 in 900 million.

"I’m a little offended by it for being a local here in Elmira, New York,” Nick Lynogh told WETM.

“When I looked at it, I thought it was a fake ticket. Usually, most of my friends used to play some of those old fake ticket tricks on me and that’s what I first thought it was."

"Unfortunately, it was a loser and I was like, ‘Holy cow, I can’t believe it literally said that,'” Lynogh said.

Authorities investigated and determined the ticket was real, and New York Lottery made an official apology.

The New York Lottery apologized for the unfortunate mix-up of words on the ticket.

New York Lottery spokesperson Lee Park told WETM:

"The unfortunate arrangement of words on this individual ticket was completely random, coincidental and — most importantly — unintentional. As soon as the ticket was brought to our attention, we immediately contacted the ticket printing vendor to remove the word “trash” from being a possible result for any future game. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this unfortunate result."

The instant game error was found by another player who took it to the Chemung County sheriff's office.

Another purchaser in Chemung County had the same problem with the Wheel Of Fortune ticket. The woman proceeded to scratch off and complete Game 2 located at the bottom of the ticket.

She was upset after the ticket revealed the same insult, according to the Chemung County Sheriff's Office.

The woman believed the ticket may have been tampered with and that is why it was turned over to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said it was discovered that the ticket was genuine and was coincidentally sold in the Elmira area.

 

SOURCE: WETM

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