Lottery Tales: The Payout

Wednesday, Hick drove me to the St. Louis lottery office to cash in my two scratcher winners of $1000 each that have been languishing in (one of) our safes. I've been meaning to get around to it. Really. There didn't seem like a good time, what with Hick's busy schedule of flip houses and Senior Center lunches and Storage Unit Store business and medical appointments.

One was from May 20, 2023. That game ended last fall, but you have six months from the end date to cash in a winner. It was only good until May this year! I knew that all along. The other was from Feb 12, 2024. So it still has a while to go, but better to get both done on the same trip.

Here's the thing. Stores can only cash a ticket up to $600. Anything higher must be taken or mailed to one of the four lottery offices in Missouri. They are in Jefferson City, Kansas City, Springfield, and St. Louis. It takes us 1:20 to get to the St. Louis office. We've been there before, in the days before THE VIRUS. That's when office procedures changed. I guess it was an excuse never to change back to the old ways. Which is kind of what I'd been waiting for.

Used to be, you could walk in and cash your ticket with the "teller." Occasionally, there was another person there. It's a small office in an industrial park. Two tellers. A little waiting area with counters on two walls, a lottery machine (of course!), and three chairs. There are also single-person restrooms down a little hall. One for men, one for women. Though I suppose anything in-between could use one of their choosing, since the bathrooms are singe-occupancy.

Anyhoo... now tickets are redeemed by appointment only. It's easy enough to go online and schedule. They have appointments every 10 minutes, from 8:00 until 5:00, with an hour off for lunch. However, not every winner lives just down the street from a lottery office. Traffic is unpredictable. So you allow time to get there early. And wonder what will happen if you arrive after your appointment.

There were big signs on the glass double doors, telling you that they would CALL YOU when they were ready for you. Call you? Like, on your phone? Or once you're inside? The instructions were not clear. We got there at 9:45. Hick said surely they would let us in. He wanted that bathroom. And so did I. We watched a person walk up and go in. Then another. So Hick said the doors were not locked.

Well. They WERE locked. A woman's voice out of the wall asked if we had an appointment. Hick said yes, at 10:00. The woman's voice seemed a bit peeved. "EVERYBODY'S coming early today!" Okay, Goldilocks. Can you predict traffic? Would you rather have people late? Because I can't imagine a world where every person for those 48 appointments through the day would step up to the door on the stroke of their scheduled time.

I said to the wall box, "We just want to come in and use the bathroom. Then we'll come back out! And wait until our appointment time."

Goldilocks asked our name, and then said, "Well, you can come on in and use the bathroom, then come to the counter." She buzzed the door to let us in.

Goldilocks was the only teller working. In the past, there have been two. But the other window was vacant. The tellers sit behind a bullet-proof window, with a little metal trough to slide in your paperwork and ID. 

I had our paperwork done, except I didn't know Hick needed one as well, since we each claim half of the prize. We've done that before, but I guess I'd filled one out for him then, and forgot. Anyhoo... I took the form she gave me over to the counter, and it was done in two minutes. Just name, address, SS #, phone number, amount of prize, and how many claiming it. Imagine an office pool where 20 people (or more) have to fill out their form!

Goldilocks was perfectly polite after her initial tizzy over us being early. We were out of there at 10:00, with our four checks for $500 each. 

There is no mandatory tax withholding for amounts under $600.01. So our wins were treated like a $500 prize that a store could redeem, and just hand you the cash. So Hick and I each got a $500 check for each of the two tickets. It gets reported as "other income" at tax time. If the prize was more, they automatically take out the state and federal taxes, and give you a 1099G form to not-lose by next year's tax time. They don't mail you one in January.

Anyhoo... now THAT'S done! And I'm not going to complain if I win $1000 tomorrow.