After scratching a Wheel of Fortune lottery ticket in Elmira, New York, college student Nick Lynough was shocked to see what the ticket read. Appearing to show the words “You Elmira Trash”,  Lynough was offended by the words on the ticket and felt as though the ticket was a fake or had been tampered with. The New York Gaming Commission however, insists the ticket is real and a completely random incident.

Lynough thought the ticket was a joke and approached the Chemung County Sheriff Christopher Moss who decided to look into the matter. After reviewing the ticket, Moss said the incident did not appear to be one of tampering though it can be hard to tell. The sheriff sent a copy of the ticket to the New York State Lottery and was told the ticket was legitimate.

The arrangement of the words, “You Elmira Trash’ was confirmed by the Gaming Commission to be an unfortunate arrangement of wording and was completely random as well as coincidental and unintentional. Lottery officials apologized for the incident, though Lynough still has a hard time believing the ticket was simply a coincidence.