Another retailer charged in Connecticut Lottery scheme

Mar 26, 2016, 5:20 pm (26 comments)

Connecticut Lottery

Seven charged so far, more on the way

A Manchester man who formerly worked at a local convenience store has become the seventh person statewide to be accused of manipulating Connecticut Lottery terminals to produce unusually large numbers of winning tickets in a now-suspended lottery game.

The man, Shaifur Rahman, 21, who lives in an apartment at 40 Channing Drive in Manchester, was charged Thursday with first-degree computer crime; a crime known as "rigging;" and aiding or encouraging the commission of a first-degree larceny.

State law defines rigging to include tampering with anything to "prevent a publicly exhibited sporting or other contest from being conducted in accordance with the rules and usages purporting to govern it." The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison, while first-degree larceny and first-degree computer crime each carry up to 20 years behind bars.

Rahman was arraigned Thursday in Manchester Superior Court and released after a person who lives at the same address posted 10 percent of his $75,000 bond in cash, a method of posting the bond that Judge Laura F. Baldini had approved in advance.

Rahman is accused of manipulating the lottery terminal at the Super Convenience Store at 469 Hartford Road in Manchester, where he formerly worked, according to an affidavit by Inspector Kevin McGuire of the state Consumer Protection Department's gaming division.

McGuire's affidavit makes clear that at least one other person, the store's former manager, also is suspected of involvement in the lottery terminal manipulation, although he hasn't been charged yet.

The man turned in his lottery license Dec. 1 and no longer manages the store, the inspector reported.

McGuire's affidavit recites considerable evidence that the lottery terminal at the Super Convenience Store was manipulated to produce unusual numbers of winning tickets in 5 Card Cash, a poker-like game that offered players the opportunity to win instantly and through a daily drawing.

But the only evidence the inspector cites implicating Rahman is the statement of a former employee of the store who reported the following:

  • One day, he saw a fellow employee he knew as Shaifur punching random keys into the lottery terminal with no customers present and generating 5 Card Cash tickets.
  • The witness reported what he saw to the store's then-manager, but the activity continued. He subsequently saw the manager doing the same thing.
  • The witness sometimes saw both men in the store after hours running off lottery tickets.
  • The witness finally confronted both men, telling them they would get in trouble, but they replied that they wouldn't get caught.

The inspector said he interviewed Rahman while Rahman was taking a break from his job in Hartford and that Rahman "vehemently denied any involvement in manipulating the 5 Card Cash game."

24 winners in a row

Officials calculated that tickets sold at the Super Convenience Store during the life of the 5 Card Cash game, from May 2014 to November 2015, produced $309,744 more in winnings than would have been expected without manipulation of the terminal.

On the morning of Oct. 5, the inspector reported, the store's lottery terminal generated 24 consecutive winning 5 Card Cash tickets. He reported that a lottery official had calculated the probability of drawing six winning tickets in succession as 1 in 5,395.

Lottery data also verified that the store's terminal was used to produce 5 Card Cash tickets when the store was supposed to be closed. On Nov.1 — a Sunday when the store was supposed to close at 5 p.m., according to the hours of operation it had filed with the lottery — its terminal produced 85 tickets for the game between 7:14 p.m. and 8:31 p.m., with 78 winners, the inspector reported.

There is evidence of widespread manipulation of the 5 Card Cash game at stores across Connecticut, court records show.

Journal Inquirer

Comments

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

I am very much against criminals but the people running these games got to be as dumb as 4K. We keep reading stories of this nature. Dumbasses gaming the system. Who are the dumb-dumb now?.

maximumfun's avatarmaximumfun

Doesnt rigging the lottery take away the excitement of playing it?

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by maximumfun on Mar 27, 2016

Doesnt rigging the lottery take away the excitement of playing it?

They are criminals.

zephbe's avatarzephbe

Greed.

Retailers should not be allowed to purchase tickets from their own stores.

Tialuvslotto's avatarTialuvslotto

Quote: Originally posted by zephbe on Mar 27, 2016

Greed.

Retailers should not be allowed to purchase tickets from their own stores.

I Agree!

Bleudog101

...and the unraveling continues.

 

HAPPY EASTER LP members!

dr65's avatardr65

I thought this was a quick pick, not a choose your own numbers game.

They closed the game down, did they not recognize a flaw in their program for this game and are now coming down

on someone who manipulated the flaw?

How can a game be fixed at the terminal when it generates quick picks only? I don't like the article in that it is missing details

of how such an operation was possible.

I've seen clerks printing their own tickets, I don't think too much of it. It does bother me however, when they purchase instants.

There is an edge there that they can use to their advantage.

I am lukewarm on feelings one way or the other on this story.  Confused

chris-chase

There is another article in here that describes how they did it. This is just a follow up article.

In a nut shell they were able to slow down their terminals while running reports, then requesting

tickets to print. They could see on the screen if the instant tickets were winners before they actually printed out.

At that point they were allowed to cancel the sale before the ticket actually printed.

dr65's avatardr65

Ty! I'll go see it.

taxijohn's avatartaxijohn

Love it, if they can't wean from the welfare system, they do this, lol..... 

 

Doing jobs Americans won't do!!!

Yes Nod

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Sounds like the state was playing a game of Lady Godiva with its retailers and their clerks else why would they have a program in the terminals that could check if a ticket was a winner before it was printed?  What did they expect the clerks to do when a customer asked them to print a winner? Wink

Cieli Diverde

    Been watching this immigrant  family for years who have a lottery small convenient store. They cook in it (not supposed to) No food licenses

They sleep in it; probably (not in their lease) They do everything they possibly can to bend the rules.Just heard one of the sons was caught up in

some lotto scam  also (cheating winner payouts). Time to shut down all the scammers who live off the backs of others. Deport them back to their

crappy countries. Be done with it.

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Quote: Originally posted by Cieli Diverde on Mar 27, 2016

    Been watching this immigrant  family for years who have a lottery small convenient store. They cook in it (not supposed to) No food licenses

They sleep in it; probably (not in their lease) They do everything they possibly can to bend the rules.Just heard one of the sons was caught up in

some lotto scam  also (cheating winner payouts). Time to shut down all the scammers who live off the backs of others. Deport them back to their

crappy countries. Be done with it.

WOW!!! Seriously?. You have been sitting around, watching this immigrant family for years, working real hard to make ends meet, running a small business, and you are complaining?. BTW, what crappy country do you deport those other criminals that were born here to?. Just a little something to think about.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by zephbe on Mar 27, 2016

Greed.

Retailers should not be allowed to purchase tickets from their own stores.

Makes ya wonder why they are allowed to purchase tickets from stores they own or work at. Problem solved.

picktowin's avatarpicktowin

How stupid are people ?

Sooner or later they get caught.

Yes and wonder why these lottery head honchos take forever to catch up with this kind of stuff happening ?

Really strange they know if a ticket  is a winner before numbers are called ?

What the heck if true then can't they tell their friends hey play these numbers.

That sounds kinda strange to me.

ekem6078's avatarekem6078

So how is it they won so much money, if the game is suppose to be a random drawing after tickets are bought.  It's rigged yall.  If too many people are on the same number or numbers that number will not fall.  If it did, they would have to payout to much money.  The best way to hit is to pick a number that not very many people are playing. Picking such a number is to pick the coldest numbers, not the hottest.  It just make common sense.  Wouldn't you agree.  js

ekem6078's avatarekem6078

Quote: Originally posted by picktowin on Mar 28, 2016

How stupid are people ?

Sooner or later they get caught.

Yes and wonder why these lottery head honchos take forever to catch up with this kind of stuff happening ?

Really strange they know if a ticket  is a winner before numbers are called ?

What the heck if true then can't they tell their friends hey play these numbers.

That sounds kinda strange to me.

I Agree!

MonEl

When the lottery does it to people with games like "All Or Nothing" and the like everything is good and well.

But when somebody scr--- them due to the lotteries own stupi---- they want to kill somebody.

The lotteries take advantage of millions of people and nobody cares about it.

But if anybody takes advantage of the lotteries they say that it is a capital crime and want to execute you.

If you are smart or lucky enough to win at a casino they might not pay you, thru you out of there and call you a cheat.

But if you bet and lose a lot of money everything is cool with them, you can keep on playing so long as you don't win too much or too often.

Same with the lotteries, if you win too often.

spartan1707's avatarspartan1707

Total BS....Period. When the Lottery does it, it's legal. But they say the computer drawings  are not rigged but they proved it was and used it too their advantaged period. Now they want to punish them for doing to them what they have been doing to it's players.....cheating them!

spartan1707's avatarspartan1707

Upper you said it Best. Here in Arizona I've been saying the same thing ever since they switched to a computer drawings for all of the states games. Revenue is up 100% but winners are down. They pick the least played number and have numbers which have never come out period.

OneTrickpony's avatarOneTrickpony

I'm still not clear as to how this game worked, but it sounds like they printed a ticket, then had like 2 seconds to cancel the transaction, thus voiding the ticket.  Then they jammed the system by running reports from the same terminal giving them more time to cancel the non-winning tickets? 

I don't know if all ticket printing terminals nationwide have a cancellation option, but you know people are going to figure out how to exploit a flaw in the system.  That's why I'll stick to ball-drawn games.  I really don't trust these RNG games.  Yes, I know ball-drawn can be manipulated as well, but they will have to work a hell of a lot harder to pull it off in front of millions of viewers, as opposed to behind-closed-doors like these lottery retailers do.

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

im not sure the scamming people are that stupid. they found a flaw that shouldnt be able to be exploited it and did so! the gov workers and programmers, highly paid professionals , designed this system. they are the stupid ones. and i bet they all still have their jobs.  sleep well tonight people,  knowing these morons are keeping your games safe from  hacks,

Deo-nonfortuna

Quote: Originally posted by savagegoose on Mar 30, 2016

im not sure the scamming people are that stupid. they found a flaw that shouldnt be able to be exploited it and did so! the gov workers and programmers, highly paid professionals , designed this system. they are the stupid ones. and i bet they all still have their jobs.  sleep well tonight people,  knowing these morons are keeping your games safe from  hacks,

No kidding. A lot of people here said these people are "Stupid", but actually they are pretty smart. All those involved in the scam are Indians, and they dominate the IT field in the States and many other industrialized countries.

Any machine can be hacked, and lotto machines are no exception. I would think lotto vending machines are more vulnerable to hacking than regular terminals.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Quote: Originally posted by OneTrickpony on Mar 30, 2016

I'm still not clear as to how this game worked, but it sounds like they printed a ticket, then had like 2 seconds to cancel the transaction, thus voiding the ticket.  Then they jammed the system by running reports from the same terminal giving them more time to cancel the non-winning tickets? 

I don't know if all ticket printing terminals nationwide have a cancellation option, but you know people are going to figure out how to exploit a flaw in the system.  That's why I'll stick to ball-drawn games.  I really don't trust these RNG games.  Yes, I know ball-drawn can be manipulated as well, but they will have to work a hell of a lot harder to pull it off in front of millions of viewers, as opposed to behind-closed-doors like these lottery retailers do.

The game is basically an RNG game combined with a ball drawn game.

For $2, you received a ticket that had a poker hand on it. If your hand matched any of the "winning" hands pictured on the ticket, you won instantly. Prizes ranged from a free ticket all the way up to $255,555.00

If your ticket wasn't an instant winner, there was a 2nd change drawing later in the day. Five balls were drawn. The balls had playing card values printed on them. That drawing used a ball machine. 

How someone figured out how to slow the terminals and then cancel non-winning tickets (I didn't think this was possible) is beyond belief. But, someone did and passed the word around to other retailers.

Cieli Diverde

Quote: Originally posted by mypiemaster on Mar 27, 2016

WOW!!! Seriously?. You have been sitting around, watching this immigrant family for years, working real hard to make ends meet, running a small business, and you are complaining?. BTW, what crappy country do you deport those other criminals that were born here to?. Just a little something to think about.

Nothing to think about. How bout back to where they originally came from. A place of filth and dirt . No

Internet,shopping malls, clean water or freedom.

Not a Country such as the US so they can rip off those who work and play to allow them to live in a free society.

 

It's morons like yourself that remain in a coma while the country is stripped by scam artists from every walk of 

life breaking the backs of the working class. You probably are in on the scam from your pea brain attitude.

 

Hurry back they may have a rug for you to sleep on and some fresh winning scratch tickets from the scanner

that's not linked to the tlc. Approve

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Quote: Originally posted by Cieli Diverde on Apr 7, 2016

Nothing to think about. How bout back to where they originally came from. A place of filth and dirt . No

Internet,shopping malls, clean water or freedom.

Not a Country such as the US so they can rip off those who work and play to allow them to live in a free society.

 

It's morons like yourself that remain in a coma while the country is stripped by scam artists from every walk of 

life breaking the backs of the working class. You probably are in on the scam from your pea brain attitude.

 

Hurry back they may have a rug for you to sleep on and some fresh winning scratch tickets from the scanner

that's not linked to the tlc. Approve

Your level of intelligence or the lack thereof truly astounds... MORON PERSONIFIED. You have been sitting around in your trailer park watching a family work, for years, hating on them and you have the mouth to complain.. Try getting a job for a change. It's ignorant nut-jobs like you that give America a bad name. Jealous, unmotivated nincompoops with no drive like you, that keep hating on people who are trying to make a better life for themselves. Don't ever include your lazy ass as part of the working class because that's an insult to people that actually work. If that family is bad, let the cops shut them down. Foolish pride!!!. HATER.

End of comments
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