Includes video report
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A woman is arrested inside the Arkansas Lottery Headquarters Monday afternoon, and the local media's cameras were there for the arrest.
Police say Ruth Dennis, 56, tried to pass a fake winning ticket for the real thing at the claims center. Her friend, John Burch says he gave Dennis and her sister a ride from Camden with a $3,000 ticket.
Lottery director Ernie Passailaigue says the ticket was clearly not real. He says she used the three times lucky scratch tickets and allegedly cut and pasted different numbers to make it appear like a winner.
"There's no cure for stupid," Passailaigue said, "And that's what's going to happen. People are going to try and defraud the lottery and they're going to go to jail.
Over the past three weeks, Passailaigue says Monday's incident was the first "fake" ticket arrest in the state. He says the best way to win the lottery is to play it.
Police say the woman has been charged with one count of fraud in relation to the lottery ticket.
VIDEO: Watch the report
She was probably working on her masterpiece for the whole month. I wish we could see what it looked like.
It's a good thing I saw that article.
I was just about to type the winning numbers on my Powerball ticket.
I can't believe people think, that they can just cut and paste numbers on a losing ticket and cash it in as a winner.
her kids left peanut butter and jelly stains on the ticket......when she was working on it on the kitchen table and that was a "dead giveaway"
I can't believe how stupid some people are, thinking that they can get away with comitting lottery fraud.
TODD is it possible that you can post a copy of this fake ticket, i would like to use it.[ LOL]
Epic fail.
"There's no cure for stupid," Passailaigue said.
Stated quite siccinctly, don't you think?
Why is there no story about the Dr. from FL that won the Powerball !?!?
If your not cheating your not trying..
i thought the plan with fake lotto tickets is to sell to some schmoe on the street not the one guy in town who will know its a fake. ie the lottery comission.
God, I'm glad she was an idiot. Too many people try the above.
I love these icons. Remember, if it sounds too good, ...
What is the story? Give it to us.
"Stupid is as Stupid does Sir!!" Forrest Gump
I think she might be Ballon Boy's Auntie!!
Her middle name just might be SCHMOE....She may have bought it for $2999.00 and tried to cash it in for all that extra jack!!!
Eh..... Nothing new. Happens all the time, especially when a state first starts a lottery. When the lottery first started here in TX, it happened so many times that it was no longer headline news. It just goes to show that there will always be folks who believe that everyone else has just fell off the dumb azz truck bound for i-wuz-juss-bern-yes-stir-dey-ville. Y'all know where dat iz....ova dare beehine taint know bodee smark butt me.
people will do anything for money.......
could it be that people are in desparite times and think the whole nation is Stupid as some republicans who twist the facts into
what appears as the truth ????
the lottery is no joke ...it protects its money very closely ....wonder if she will continue to buy tickets !!!!!!???
Lotterypost usually runs the story on the latest Powerball Winner ...
Not this time for some reason ??????????????
1. They used to do that at Bingo (cut and paste) which is why now they just use the serial # in the free space to check against a database when someone wins. The only problem being you don't have time to take a sip of coffee before the next game starts.
2. Maybe the ticket came out like that from the machine? Like the Blue Moon ticket in NY?
3. Someday she can take boxing lessons from Elicia Battle.
4. What happens though, like another case in NY, the ticket is misprinted so it looks like it won a million dollars that happened to that Sopranos dude that time, didn't they just defraud the customer? What about when the computerized RNG program error blocked certain numbers in TN? Shouldn't the Lottery then be brought up on charges? Oops, Human Error.
so is stupid a defense in the courts? I didnt think she bought hte thing off someone, but yeah prob did get scammed that way. sounded like she was accused of forging the ticket.
anyhow another sad story
Lock her up and throw away the key, we got too many dumb people walking the streets as it is.
If your Powerball tickets are printed like Ohio lottery tickets then they are printed on heat sensitive paper so numbers are literally burnt on, not typed. I doubt if such printers are any longer sold as I've not seen that kind of paper selling for years.
Our state puts all kinds of 'control' numbers on the tickets to indicate: Store number, valid date(s), total tickets sold that day, roll of paper the ticket came from, and a few more I haven't figured out yet -- all of which can be cross-referenced, of course. The story says age 56; I'd like to know how people get that old being that dumb.