N.D. Admin Code 10-16-03-07 - [Effective 7/1/2025] Validation of a ticket or cash voucher

1. A retailer shall use a terminal to validate a ticket or cash voucher before the retailer may pay a prize on the ticket or cash voucher. A retailer that pays a player a prize without first validating the ticket or cash voucher assumes the financial risk that the ticket is not an actual winning ticket, the ticket was previously redeemed, or that the cash voucher was previously redeemed. The lottery may not reimburse a retailer for a prize paid in error by the retailer. A ticket that does not pass validation is invalid and ineligible for a prize. A cash voucher that does not pass validation is invalid for cashing. Except as provided by subsection 18 of section 10-16-03-08, an original ticket is the only proof of a game play and submitting a winning ticket to the retailer or lottery is the only method of claiming a prize. A play slip, a copy or photo of a winning ticket, or a copy or photo of a cash voucher do not have monetary or prize value and are not evidence of a ticket bought or of numbers selected for a draw. A ticket must have been bought from a North Dakota retailer and meet the following validation requirements:

a. A retailer must have issued the ticket in an authorized manner;

b. The play, including the combination of numbers, letters, or symbols selected by a player or quick picked, evidenced by the ticket, must reach and be accepted and recorded by the lottery's online gaming system before the cutoff time for a draw. The draw for a game is held on the days determined by the game group. Even if a player intends for a retailer to enter the player's play before the cutoff time for the present draw, the play is only eligible for the draw that is printed on the ticket;

c. The ticket or cash voucher must not have been previously paid or voided by the lottery;

d. The ticket or cash voucher must not have been stolen, or be counterfeit, altered, mutilated, reconstructed, unreadable, illegible, irregular, partly blank, incomplete, defective, or an exact duplicate of another winning ticket. The game group, MUSL, and lottery are not responsible for a ticket that is altered in any manner;

e. A ticket or cash voucher is void unless the ticket is printed on a paper stock roll that was validly issued to and used by the retailer that sold the ticket;

f. The ticket or cash voucher validation number must be legible, intact, presented in its entirety, and correspond, based on the lottery's computer validation file, exactly to the date and selected numbers printed on the apparent winning ticket that was sold at a specific site;

g. The ticket or cash voucher may not be marked in any way, except by a player to place a signature on the back side of the ticket to claim a prize or by a retailer to deface or void the ticket after it was redeemed, with the intent to commit fraud;

h. If the total prize value of all plays of a winning ticket is five thousand dollars or more, the ticket must pass a confidential security check by the lottery;

i. Upon request by the lottery, a claimant of an apparent winning ticket shall disclose to the lottery the name of the retailer from whom the claimant bought the ticket, date of purchase, and approximate time; and

j. A validation requirement adopted by the MUSL or game group.

2. After a retailer validates a winning ticket or cash voucher, the retailer shall, if sufficient funds are available, pay the player the prize value. However, a retailer shall redeem a winning ticket or cash voucher that has a prize value of fifty dollars or less. A retailer shall return the winning ticket or cash voucher and the player copy of the terminal receipt to the player and retain the retailer copy of the terminal receipt for recordkeeping purposes. After a retailer validates a nonwinning ticket, the retailer shall return the nonwinning ticket and player copy of the terminal receipt to the player. The player may discard a redeemed winning or nonwinning ticket and player copy of the terminal receipt.

3. The lottery shall credit a retailer's account for a prize actually paid by the retailer on a validated redeemed winning ticket or cash voucher.

4. The lottery's determination on a contested validation is final.

Notes

N.D. Admin Code 10-16-03-07

Effective February 1, 2004; amended effective April 1, 2006; April 1, 2008. Amended by Administrative Rules Supplement 2015-355, January 2015, effective 7/6/2014. Amended by Administrative Rules Supplement 2025-396, July 2025, effective 7/1/2025.

General Authority: NDCC 53-12.1-13

Law Implemented: NDCC 53-12.1-02, 53-12.1-03, 53-12.1-08, 53-12.1-09, 53-12.1-13