(a) In order to be deemed a valid, winning Mega Millions ticket, all of the following conditions must be met:

1. (1) the validation data must be present in its entirety and must correspond, using the computer validation file, to the number selections printed on the ticket for the drawing date(s) printed on the ticket;
2. (2) the ticket must be intact;
3. (3) the ticket must not be mutilated, altered, reconstituted, or tampered with in any manner;
4. (4) the ticket must not be counterfeit or an exact duplicate of another winning ticket;
5. (5) the ticket must have been issued by a lottery sales agent in an authorized manner;
6. (6) the commission must not have actual knowledge that the ticket has been stolen;
7. (7) the ticket must be submitted for payment in accordance with the commission’s procedures for claiming and payment of prizes;
8. (8) the ticket data must have been recorded on the commission’s central computer system prior to the drawing and the ticket data must match this computer record in every respect. In the event of a contradiction between information as printed on the ticket and as accepted by the commission’s central computer system, the wager accepted by the commission’s central computer system shall be the valid wager;
9. (9) the player or computer number selections, validation data and the drawing date(s) of an apparent winning ticket must appear on the official file of winning tickets, and a ticket with that exact data must not have been previously paid;
10. (10) the ticket must not be mis-registered, defectively printed, or produced in error to an extent that it cannot be processed by the commission;
11. (11) the ticket must pass validation tests using a minimum of three of the five validation methods as defined in the Mega Millions finance and operations procedures. In addition, the ticket must pass all of the commission’s other confidential security;
12. (12) in submitting a Mega Millions ticket for validation, the claimant agrees to abide by applicable laws, all rules and regulations, instructions, conditions and final decisions of the commission;
13. (13) there must not be any other breach of the Mega Millions game rules or regulations in relation to the ticket, which, in the discretion of the commission justifies invalidation;
14. (14) the ticket must be submitted to the commission and to no other lottery participating in any Mega Millions lottery game; and
15. (15) No Mega Millions ticket purchased outside the State of New York may be presented to either the commission or an agent for payment within New York.

(b) A Mega Millions ticket submitted for validation that fails any of the preceding validation conditions shall be considered void, subject to the following determinations:

1. (1) the commission may, at the commission’s option, replace an invalid ticket with a Mega Millions ticket of equivalent sales price;
2. (2) in the event a defective ticket is purchased or in the event the commission determines to adjust an error, the sole and exclusive remedy shall be the replacement of such defective or erroneous ticket(s) with a Mega Millions ticket of equivalent sales price;
3. (3) in the event a Mega Millions ticket is not paid by the commission and a dispute occurs as to whether the ticket is a winning ticket, the commission may, at the commission’s option, replace the ticket as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdivision. This shall be the sole and exclusive remedy of the claimant.