WOW, TALK ABOUT ADDICTION: Woman stole $2.3M to buy lottery ticketsPrevious TopicNext Topic

What would you expect? Spending $2.3 million on the lottery pretty much guarantees losing half that amount, because that's how much the state typically takes before money goes into the prize pool. If only 50% of the ticket price goes towards prizes then statistically you should expect to win 50 cents for every dollar you play, and the more money you spend the more likely that your results will be statistically normal.  Even if she had spent the money on a game with low odds like NY lotto she would only have had about a 10% chance of winning. If she had spent it on megamillions she'd have had about  a 1.3% chance of winning. Anyone with sense spends a modest amount of money and hopes like hell they won't be statistically normal.

Well at least it's a good example to people who spend large amounts per drawing that it doesn't increase your odds, At least if she had bought art with the money the company could have gotten the money back.

She reportedly concentrated on annuity-only scratch games. ANYBODY who plays them has a gambling problem. I wonder how much she blew on NY Lotto?

See, that's why Oprah still  signs her own checks...230...2300 in honor of allof that stolen money.

Something sounds fishy about this story. where did she find time to do her job if she was buying as much as 6000 dollars a day worth of tickets. what counter person wouldn't be suspicious of a person buying that many tickets every day or even once a week. Anyone with half a brain knows no body makes 42,000 a week in salary. i have a difficult enough time buying 20 bucks worth of tickets let alone more. Even if she gave the lottery terminal operator a list every day the operator would be spending the whole shift punching out numbers. If she was buying scratch offs every day the store would be sold out of tickets. The lottery might even be suspicious that a store like this would be selling that many tickets.

if she was buying thousands of scratch off where did she find time to scratch off all of her purchases. She would be up night and day it takes about an hour to scratch off 200 tickets.

Also it takes time to check pick 3/4 tickets especially if you have thousands of them to go through. Cash a ticket for more than 600 bucks don't you have to report income since they send you a tax form to file with your taxes.

I would buy this story if they said she spent 600 a day buying tickets but 6 grand give me a break.

I agree that on the surface it would seem fishy. In this case the fish was caught in a small pond. ITs VERY easy to splurge on Pick 3/Pick4 match 6/ Powerball or MegaBall and instant games! Instant games have tickets that cost $20.00 a pop! I buy the story because Ive read how church book keepers steal money for years! ANd the church pardons them! WHy? Because to them its not their money, its the good lords.

A physician office depends on a book keeper! The physician is skilled in medical areas NOT accounting! THus why its imparative to *trust* and audit your book keeper. Yes a physician office ( cardiac, brain or oncologist) make money hand over foot, so its conceivable to see such funds accumulate and dispense quite quickly. The woman was skilled at her job enough to know how to hide funds in accounts. She would have served ENRON well , but that is a whole other topic!

I do think NOT all her thievery went to gambling.

I feel guilty each week when I spend $10.00 on the lottery, so I cannot imagine if it was someone elses money how I could feel any less guilty! Perhaps its a matter of valueing hard earned money.

Could this be a bogus insanity defense? If she was caught stealing and it was because she resented the rich doctors, she won't get off with a slap on the wrist. If she BLAMES her "addiction" on a gambling problem, she might generate a lot of sympathy. Isn't that what people do these days...blame their crimes on someone or something besides their own greed, lust or hatred? If you kill someone for drugs, blame your abusive parents, the drug dealer who got you hooked or society for not accepting you.  If you molest a child, then blame the uncle or teacher who hurt you when you were young and cry in front of the camera. So why not say "The Lottery Made Me Do It?"

Just a thought. 

Maybe she still has a great deal of the money stashed somewhere and said she blew it all on the lottery so the authorities wouldn't be searching for it. Blowing all of it on the lottery is almost equivalent to saying it went up in smoke. Plus, instead of just being a thieving scoundrel she gets to attain an appearance of being a "victim" herself. I'm sure some people will feel sorry for her rather than despise her. It's a form of the "twinkie defense". Blame one of society's "ills" rather than accept responsibility for ones own actions. Poor woman isn't at fault, she just couldn't help herself. And before someone tries to poke holes in my supposition, just because she is ordered to pay it back doesn't mean she will if she has the money stashed somewhere. Live off the money and pay back what little you can while still providing yourself a living. I don't doubt she probably spent an incredible amount on the lottery, but $6,000 a day? Get real.

Isn't this what I just posted?

We posted at virtually the same time, it just took me longer because I was eating chicken and dumpling soup while I was typing. Don't be paranoid, I wasn't copying you. Sheesh!!!

I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much.  Yes they did say that strange as it sounds. 

That may have been that person's strategy, along with being stuck on stupid for stealing.

I have seen a handful of people over my 13 years of playing the lottery play big on the lottery.  They were at special times in the year.  It was always during the tax return season and at the holidays mainly christmas.  I would be buying tickets and some one would come in and buy a book of scratch-its or if the jackpot was high on powerball $200 to $500 on powerball.  I guess I could see someone spending that much money on lottery if they bought books of scratch-its.  5 books of $5 or $10 tickets have to be over $1000.  Then 50-$10 powerball tickets that had powerplay on then is $500. Awe what the hell she is an ADDICT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  No one should spend that much money on the lottery.-weshar75

Not accusing you of anything, mangeydog!  We were  at the same time and I thought it was interesting that we both had the same idea too.  Who's paranoid? 

I just type faster...nya, nya!

I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much.  Yes they did say that strange as it sounds. 

Konane,

When I used to vacation in Vegas many years ago, people told me that all the time.  If I bet $5 on a Blackjack hand and lost I was told to bet $10 and then $20 and then $40.  I finally asked "So what happens when I run out of money?" I read on a site once that in life persistence can often lead to success but in gambling it will inevitably lead to bankruptcy!

Hah!!! Okay, I figured(wrongly) that you were being a stooge about it. My apologies jxp. I'm sure you do type faster than me. I was eating soup so I was typing one handed. Although that's no excuse, I do most things on the internet one-handed.