Lottery 'joke' wins man fine, year probation
James A. Koons Jr.'s practical joke backfired in a big way.
According to his attorney, the Hegins man thought it would be funny to fake a $853,496 winning Powerball ticket and leave it underneath a newspaper in the break room at the Roadway Express terminal in Middlesex Twp.
Instead of a laugh, Koons and an unwitting co-worker ended up in a legal mess.
Yesterday, Cumberland County President Judge Edgar B. Bayley sentenced Koons, 38, to 12 months of probation and fined him $2,500 for ...
Dec 6, 2006, 7:30 am - - Lottery News forum
New Penn. Lottery raffle game on sale next week
Return of popular Millionaire Raffle to award more than $6 million; computerized drawing to be used
Millionaire Raffle, the successful groundbreaking game developed last year by the Pennsylvania Lottery, will create even more millionaires when the game returns for a third drawing on Saturday, Dec. 30.
Millionaire Raffle tickets go on sale Tuesday, Nov. 21, at more than 8,400 Lottery retailers throughout the commonwealth. Only 625,000 tickets will be sold. Each of the game's $20 tickets wil ...
Nov 15, 2006, 12:35 pm - - Lottery News forum
Penn. Lottery chief takes job with newspaper publisher
The executive director of the Pennsylvania Lottery is leaving his post to work for the owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News, the state and the company announced Thursday.
Ed Mahlman will be chief marketing officer for Philadelphia Media Holdings, which is trying to prove the notion about daily newspapers being in decline wrong with its recent purchase of the Inquirer, Daily News and related properties.
In a statement, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell lauded the work Mahlman d ...
Aug 11, 2006, 12:00 pm - - Lottery News forum
Lottery sales in Pa. hit record $3 billion
Pennsylvania Lottery sales for the 2005-06 fiscal year reached a record $3.07 billion, Gov. Rendell said yesterday.
Sales grew by $425 million, the largest dollar increase in the lottery's 34-year history, leaving the agency with a $400 million surplus. The state will use half that money to expand property-tax and rent-rebate programs for senior citizens, said Stephanie Weyant, a spokeswoman for the state Revenue Department.
The expanded rebates will go out in 2007 to pay for the 2006 tax ...
Aug 1, 2006, 8:39 am - - Lottery News forum
Dad, son step up as $1 million lottery winners
Weeks of small-town speculation ended yesterday when the Pennsylvania Lottery Commission confirmed a West Pennsboro Twp. family won $1 million on a ticket sold at the local pharmacy.
Matthew Campbell and his father, Alvin, who live less than a half-mile from the MGM Pharmacy, snagged the prize during the July 4 drawing of the Millionaire Raffle.
The identity of the winner had been the talk of the community since word filtered out that a winning ticket had been sold at MGM.
For lit ...
Jul 21, 2006, 11:39 am - - Lottery News forum
Pennsylvania jury clears defendant of lottery deception
Jury sends resounding message to overzealous prosecutors
A Pennsylvania man didn't strike it rich with a phony Powerball ticket, but he won a victory yesterday when a Dauphin County jury decided he didn't do anything wrong.
After deliberating a little more than an hour, the jury acquitted Brian Scott Miller, 34, of unsworn falsification to authorities.
The charge was lodged after agents of the state attorney general's office said Miller signed a form saying he bought the ticket, then ...
May 11, 2006, 10:15 am - - Lottery News forum
Top House leader balks at plan to use Pa. lottery for tax relief
A top Pennsylvania House leader has doubts about a key element of a property tax relief plan, threatening to complicate a legislative panel's efforts to produce an acceptable compromise.
House Republican leader Sam Smith, of Punxsutawney, said yesterday he didn't like the idea of transferring about $240 million from the state lottery fund to provide property tax and rent rebates this year for senior citizens.
I am not comfortable with borrowing money from the Lottery Fund this year, he t ...
Apr 25, 2006, 7:27 am - - Lottery News forum
Man charged with forging lottery ticket claims it was a joke
A Pennsylvania man charged with forging a winning lottery ticket in October was only playing a joke on a coworker, his defense attorney said today.
That joke, attorney Stephen Ellwood said, was merely that (James A. Koons Jr.) wanted someone to find it and think it was real.
And that someone Brian Scott Miller, 34, of Pheasant Drive South in North Middleton Township now faces charges after he allegedly found the ticket at the Middlesex Township trucking firm where he worked and tried ...
Apr 6, 2006, 11:42 am - - Lottery News forum
Penn. woman sues for share of winning lottery ticket
A New Salem woman wants a Fayette County judge to stop her former roommate from cashing a $1 million winning instant lottery ticket because she believes the money should be shared.
In a suit filed by attorney Samuel Davis, Yvonne Evans claimed it was her debit card used to pay for the $20 winning scratch-off ticket on which her roommate Mary Rechichar won the seven-figure prize.
Rechichar called Evans from Dan's Marathon Gas Station in Republic, where Rechichar worked, to ask Evans for th ...
Mar 30, 2006, 2:24 pm - - Lottery News forum
Penn. woman Loses $20,000 In Jamaican Lottery Scam
A Bethlehem woman was defrauded of nearly $20,000 throughout January after she was led to believe she'd won the Jamaican lottery.Sue Turnback, 68, said a woman calling herself Carrinne Campbell called her Jan. 4, police said. Campbell said Turnback won $2.2 million in the Jamaican lottery but had to mail $1,000 to Jamaica to process the winnings. Turnback sent the money in an international money order the same day. Turnback received another call later from a man calling himself Everett Montaque, ...
Jan 31, 2006, 7:03 am - - Lottery News forum
