Lottery winner facing tax fraud trial dies
Editor's Note: A less in-depth news story about this lottery winner was posted earlier today: $13 million Florida Lotto winner dies a pauper
Former lottery multi-millionaire Alex Toth, who was broke and facing tax fraud charges, has died at the age of 60.
Toth was scheduled to go on trial in June, accused of filing fake tax returns with his wife, Rhoda, who has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
By the time the couple were charged in 2006, authorities said they appeared to have ...
Apr 25, 2008, 7:12 pm - - Lottery News forum
$13 million Florida Lotto winner dies a pauper
A former Florida Lotto multi-millionaire has died nearly broke.
Alex Toth's attorney says he was ill and still facing federal tax fraud charges when he died at age 60. The county health department says he died April 5 but a cause was not listed.
Alex and Rhoda Toth won a $13 million jackpot in 1990. But the Pasco County couple say most of the money ran out years ago, spent on gambling, gifts and luxuries.
They were charged in 2006 with filing false tax returns. Alex Toth was scheduled t ...
Apr 25, 2008, 2:37 pm - - Lottery News forum
As Fla. lottery sales slow, schools stand to lose
Penny-pinching Floridians aren't playing the lottery as much as expected, and that's bad news for state legislators trying to minimize school budget cuts next year.
Lackluster ticket sales have prompted state economists to reduce their projection for this year's sales by $47 million. They also scaled back projections for the next two years by $159 million.
The news just gets better and better, huh? said a wry Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, the House budget chairman.
The lower predictions ...
Apr 14, 2008, 8:46 am - - Lottery News forum
New Florida Lotto playslips a bother to some
Some players annoyed by re-writing slips used 'for years'; don't understand new jackpot options
As the Florida Lottery made changes to its Lotto game, a Lauderhill woman claimed the $3 million jackpot from the March 1 game.
Melony Gregory, of Lauderhill, chose the one-time, lump-sum payment, and will receive $1,711,642 after taxes.
Meanwhile, Lotto players faced a slightly longer wait to purchase tickets for Wednesday night's drawing, the first since the Florida Lottery made changes to ...
Mar 6, 2008, 11:35 am - - Lottery News forum
Tonight's Fla. Lotto drawing first to let players increase jackpot
Also first drawing to use new playslips
Lotto players who buy their tickets on the day of the drawing need to give themselves a few extra minutes to get tickets for tonight's drawing. Tonight's is the first drawing since the Florida Lottery made changes to Lotto and the old play slips no longer work.
The big change is that players can spend $1 or $2 extra to increase the size of the Lotto jackpot.
Tonight's jackpot is $3 million and a $1 play buys a chance to win that amount or a cha ...
Mar 5, 2008, 2:09 pm - - Lottery News forum
Pair arrested for stealing lottery tickets for 3 years
Claimed $187,000 in winnings from stolen scratch-offs
A clerk at Local Yokel food mart has been arrested for stealing Florida Lottery scratch-off tickets and raking in $187,000 in winnings.
Michelle Joan Despain, 35, of Daphne, Ala., is accused of stealing books of tickets and claiming them in Escambia County and in Orlando during a family vacation, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.
The tickets she stole would have sold for more than $243,000.
Despain's husband, ...
Feb 8, 2008, 8:56 am - - Lottery News forum
Lottery scammer who later won shot, killed
A Fort Lauderdale man who once went to jail for making fake lottery tickets and then won a million-dollar prize for real died from a gunshot wound.
Anthony Soltys, convicted felon and instant millionaire, died as mysteriously as he lived.
Soltys died Friday afternoon from a gunshot wound he received the night before in Fort Lauderdale.
Police are searching for the person or persons that left him to die in the middle of Northeast Fourth Avenue, in the 1700 block.
Soltys was taken ...
Jan 20, 2008, 12:22 am - - Lottery News forum
New Year's Eve lottery raffles from around the USA
In addition to celebrating the new year last night, lottery players from around the United States were checking their raffle tickets to see if they would start 2008 as a new millionaire.
Raffle-style lottery drawings were held in several states, including Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Virginia. (Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania drew their raffles a couple days ago.)
T ...
Jan 1, 2008, 10:25 am - - Lottery News forum
$3 million Florida Lottery ticket expires Monday
A lottery winner has one last chance to claim a $3 million Florida Lotto prize.
According to Florida Lottery officials, a winning jackpot ticket bought in Jensen Beach for the June 27 drawing is still unclaimed, and the 180-day limit to claim the $3 million prize expires at midnight Monday.
The Quick Pick winning ticket was sold at the Ocean Breeze Liquor Pub in the 1800 block of Northeast Jensen Beach Boulevard.
The winning numbers for that drawing were: 08-13-14-32-43-48.
If th ...
Dec 21, 2007, 3:10 pm - - Lottery News forum
Wife sues husband for share of secret lottery winnings
A former beauty queen whose husband has kept about $600,000 in lottery winnings from her says she has a number for him: half. And Donna Campbell is suing her husband in her attempt to get it.
But American Airlines mechanic Arnim Ramdass disappeared after his wife confronted him about the secret, so process servers haven't been able to hand him the lawsuit papers yet, Campbell's attorney said.
Here's a guy who for years has spent marital money on the lottery and at casinos, and he's always ...
Nov 20, 2007, 8:48 am - - Lottery News forum
