Scratch-off lottery: delivery to settlement

On this page

1. The life of a pack
2. 1. Receiving the delivery
3. 2. Activation
4. 3. Counting at each shift change
5. 4. Sold out and full pack sales
6. 5. Settlement
7. 6. Returns
8. One line per pack

A pack of scratch-off tickets passes through your hands several times before the state is done with it. It arrives, waits in the back, gets activated, goes into a bin, gets counted shift after shift, sells out or goes back, and finally settles on your lottery bill. Each step needs a record. Miss one and the numbers stop agreeing, and you find out weeks later when the state’s statement doesn’t match your counts.

Every state lottery writes its own rules. The order below is common, but your state’s retailer manual is the final word on deadlines, settlement timing and returns.

The life of a pack

Stage	What happens	What you record
Delivery	Packs arrive from the lottery	Game, pack number, date received
Activation	The pack is turned on at the lottery terminal	Date, bin, first ticket number
On sale	Tickets sell from the bin	Next ticket number at every shift change
Sold out	The last ticket sells	Date, and the pack that replaced it
Settlement	The state bills you for the pack	Settlement date and amount
Return	Unsold tickets go back	Pack, tickets returned, the receipt

1. Receiving the delivery

When the delivery comes in:

• Count the packs against the packing slip, game by game and pack by pack.
• Check each pack’s wrap. Report a torn or opened pack right away.
• Confirm the delivery on the lottery terminal if your state requires it. In many states you can’t activate a pack until its delivery is confirmed.
• Lock the packs up. In many states you are responsible for a pack once you have confirmed it, whether or not it ever sells.

Count the back room too

Packs waiting in the safe are inventory, and they can go missing like anything else. Once a week, count the inactive packs on hand and compare them with your list of packs received but not yet activated. If a pack on the list isn’t in the safe, report it to the lottery right away. Lotteries can usually flag a missing pack so its winning tickets can’t be cashed.

2. Activation

A pack goes on sale only after you activate it on the lottery terminal. Until then, its winners cannot be cashed. Activation matters for your bill too: in many states, the settlement clock starts the day you activate.

Good habits:

• Activate a pack right before it goes into a bin, never days ahead.
• Write down the bin and the first ticket number. Depending on the state, a pack’s first ticket is number 0 or number 1.
• Never activate a pack and leave it in the back room. Where settlement runs on a clock, it can be billed to you before a single ticket sells.

3. Counting at each shift change

This is where problems show up, and where they are cheapest to fix.

At every shift change, read the ticket number showing at the front of each bin. Use one rule for the whole store: record the next ticket to be sold.

• Tickets sold = ending number minus starting number
• Sales = tickets sold times the ticket price

Example

Say bin 4 holds a $5 game. At the start of the shift the next ticket is number 23. At the end it is number 41. That is 18 tickets, or $90 for that bin.

Add up every bin. The total should match the scratch-off sales rung at the register for the shift. If it doesn’t, sort it out before the outgoing cashier leaves, while the person who knows what happened is still there.

4. Sold out and full pack sales

When the last ticket in a bin sells, the pack is sold out. Record it, activate the next pack for that bin, and write down its first ticket number. A bin that changes packs in the middle of a shift needs both packs in that shift’s count: the rest of the old pack plus what sold from the new one.

Now and then a customer buys a whole pack. Record it as a full pack sale, so it doesn’t look like a missing pack at the next count.

5. Settlement

Settlement is when the state bills you for a pack. Each state sets its own trigger. In many states it is a set number of days after activation, or sooner once enough of the pack’s winning tickets have been cashed. Other states use different rules, so look yours up.

Lotteries typically collect by drafting your bank account on a set day each week. The amount usually works out to the value of the packs settled that week, minus your commission, minus the prizes you cashed, plus your draw game sales after their own commission and payouts, plus or minus any adjustments.

Each week, check the statement against your records:

• Settled packs. Every pack on the statement should be one you received and activated. Where settlement runs on a clock, some packs will settle while they are still on sale. That is normal.
• Cashed prizes. Compare the statement with the cashing reports from your lottery terminal.
• Commission. Check it against your state’s rate.
• Adjustments. Look up any line you don’t recognize, and call the lottery if you can’t explain it.

6. Returns

Games end. When the state closes a game, you have a deadline to send back its unsold tickets. Depending on the state, damaged packs and some partly sold packs can go back too.

For every return:

• Pull the packs or tickets your state allows you to return.
• Process the return the way your state requires, often on the terminal plus a return slip.
• Keep the receipt.
• Watch for the credit on a later statement.

Miss the deadline and you may end up paying for tickets you never sold. Put the end dates of your games where the whole team can see them.

One line per pack

A pack’s whole life should fit on one line of your records: received, activated, which bin, sold out or returned, and settled. When the state’s statement and your counts disagree, that line tells you where to look. A pack that was activated but never shows up in a count is a pack to find today.