Machine discovered battered and broken open in unusual crime
Includes video report
By Kate Northrop
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. — A California Lottery vending machine was found cracked open and dumped on the side of the road with unscratched lottery tickets still inside last week.
A single, battered California Lottery vending machine was found haphazardly left in the dirt on a rural strip of road in Fresno County, California.
On Sept. 16 at around 7:00 a.m., the lottery vending machine was found discarded near Caruthers and Bethel Avenue in Fresno County, about a ten-minute drive outside of Selma.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the machine was taken from a retailer in Delano, another town about an hour south of where it was recovered.
Delano police told KFSN that it had been stolen from the State Market grocery store on Cecil Avenue before 2:00 a.m. that same morning. However, no tickets were taken from the machine, the Lottery informed the news station.
"Even if they were, the lottery has a way of deactivating them remotely," California Lottery Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Communications Carolyn Becker said in an interview with reporters. "I'm confident the tickets that are recovered from the field there will be investigated for damage. If they have been compromised in any way, they are not playable."
This type of incident is unusual for Lottery officials to see, since most petty crimes they deal with don't typically involve theft of the whole vending machine itself.
"It is pretty rare to hear of an entire vending lottery machine taken out of a retail environment," Becker continued. "It's heavy."
Investigators have not revealed how much money the thieves may have taken from the machine, but it wouldn't likely be much to begin with, the Lottery said.
"Those lottery machines carry a minimal amount of cash," Becker elaborated.
According to Delano police, they believe the suspects drove a white van but did not provide the news station with a description of their appearances.
VIDEO: Watch the report
Let me say Something About California They are now officially the Best in winning The lottery and the Best in stealing lottery Machines . Sometimes l wonder this type of people deserve to be sent to El Salvador 🤠🙏👍
So they took the cash, thank God the tickets are safe.
Apparently they just wanted the money.They knew the scratchers were worthless. They probably took the lotto machine because they couldn't get the ATM
lol
I used to do armored car work. crazy of these stories.
I feel like they are down playing the amount of money that was in the machine. "These machines carry a minimal amount of cash" more like there is a lot in there, but we don't want more machine theft. It does make sense, though.
I do believe that there was NOT a lot of money in that vending machine. California has more lottery vending machines in more locations than any other state in the US. So it stands to reason that there was not a lot of money in the machine, just money from the people in that neighborhood. Besides most machines are now able to accept credit and debit cards so that also cuts down on a lot of cash being in them.
Recently our machines in KY were retrofitted to accept $100 bills.
In GA last November and about 6 weeks ago. Both visits machines I looked at had a sign posted near the bill slot acceptor...'soon debit and credit cards accepted.' This last visit, though they never acknowledged my email, exactly ONE billboard on I 75 was capable of saying Billion instead of $999 million, but stores we went to still were not updated. Snails pace in that state for upgrades is my point.
Off subject, I do apologize.
Had won $14 on MM and about an hour ago thought of one of the cashier's @ Pilot and had a feeling they had rescue tickets there. Bought all five $2 PB, though normally play PP & DP. Also gave her a dollar to get MM so we'd be even.
Said something to the Manager on the way out. She rang them up and guy said I wanted $3 PB tickets and wouldn't buy them. Said I'd last five minutes working here because I'd say I failed mind reading 101. She said that's a good one and will use it!
sounds like an inside job. only an employee or manager would know about how much cash is in the machine to make the crime worth it, the best time to steal it, the best way to get it out of the store, the right kind of vehicle to move it, etc. i don't think randos did this.
Could be some clever thieves like the ones featured on the tv show "Masterminds".