A question concerning California Lottery scratch-off tickets.?

Question

The winning tickets used to have 3 tiny letters spread out at varying points in the "scratch-off" area verifying whether they were winners or not. For example if it was a ticket good for another ticket only, the three letters would be "t-i-c". $4.00 would be "f-o-r". $5.00 would be "f-i-v" and so on. That made it very easy to make sure you didn't mistake a winning ticket for a loser. Unfortunately they changed that and there are no more 3-letter clues but some kind of encrypted code that looks like you'd have to put them under an infra-red light or something. I was wondering if anyone out there has discovered that there is a way to double check these new tickets with the naked eye.

I'm aware that most places have do-it-yourself machines at the counter for this purpose which is fine if you have just a few. However I buy like 20 or 30 at a time and feel uneasy about scanning a c**p-load of tickets in front of everyone. Just thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Answer 1

We used to have that in Illinois, but they got rid of the letters.  They were for gas station attendants to check to be sure it was what it was supposed to be.  They probably got rid of the letters so that people could not double check themselves with the letters and maybe throw out a winning ticket.  I happen to get lucky and double checked TWO winning tickets that I almost pitched.  Though I also don't like the letters being in a spot where you would accidentally scratch and reveal some X or Q.  Then you would know it was a dud.