Bill targets retailers and employees who steal tickets from the workplace
By Kate Northrop
A Florida Senator filed a bill on Monday that would enact harsher penalties on lottery retailer employees who conduct ticket theft schemes and would crack down on those who falsify prize claims.
Florida Senator Corey Simon proposed a bill that tightens up Florida Lottery security measures and targets individuals attempting to steal tickets from their workplace or make false prize claims.
Senate bill 530 addresses a variety of administrative updates, including a new schedule for comprehensive evaluations of Florida Lottery financials, security, and integrity by an independent firm.
One potential update involves expanding the law to allow sworn law enforcement officers employed by the Lottery's Division of Security to purchase lottery tickets and present them to retailers to claim a prize when it is necessary for undercover duties, such as compliance operations and investigations. However, it would remain that officers or Lottery employees and their household relatives cannot buy lottery tickets under any other circumstances.
This ties into the most notable changes, which involve harsher penalties for those engaging in lottery fraud, namely theft and deceit.
The bill would make it a third-degree felony for a lottery retailer or any of its employees to use their position to "knowingly facilitate, participate in, or otherwise assist in the theft of any lottery ticket from the retail establishment or from a patron or customer of the retail establishment." A "patron" or "customer" could include sworn law enforcement officers of the Lottery's Division of Security presenting a ticket to claim a prize.
If the bill were to be passed, it would also become a third-degree felony to present a false claim to the Lottery or lie to the department. Lying entails willfully and knowingly falsifying or concealing a material fact to the Lottery, making any "false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation," as it relates to the claim, or presenting any false documents that are meant to support evidence of said fraudulent claim.
A third-degree felony in Florida is punishable by up to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $5,000. A sentence for the crime might also include probation and restitution for a victim's losses. However, a habitual offender under Florida state law may mean the penalties increase significantly, with a possible prison sentence extending up to ten years.
SB 530 will likely be referred to a committee for review over the next few weeks in preparation for the next Florida legislative session beginning in early January.
What is the penalty now in FL? Typical jail time before and after change? How many cases of store employees declaring a winning ticket has no prize and then transfer the ticket to themselves?
Talk about a flagrant waste of lawmaking...who's gonna stand up to the state's prehistoric constitution ( that was written LONG before a 5-year old could find any human being within five planets on the internet) and let the players that make our great lottery what it is remain anonymous???
*... it's no different than a neighbor walking their dog who takes a dump on your lawn with you yelling " hey, don't forget to pick that up!"
* What's the penalty for that?🤨
Hey not on topic but Georgia is on a roll ... First the huge jackpot Friday night only to be followed by a a huge 1st runner up prize on Tuesday .... the only runner-up prize at that!
Have a shaggy day!
ShagE3
* Yeah, l saw that ShagE3. The lottery drought in that State has been awful. Glad for once to have the spotlight off CA. Next winner coming out of Missouri.
Yeah I almost thought looking at the info late Friday early Saturday that the GA was CA.
I was like ...... Noooo not Cali again!
Has the "show me" state ever won before noise-gate? If your state wins in the future I hope it is you that is the ticket holder but as to tonights PB .... may the best "ShagE3" win ...whoever he is.
ShagE3
Perfect. So as I win, retailers must pay up! BBHM money!
"One potential update involves expanding the law to allow sworn law enforcement officers employed by the Lottery's Division of Security to purchase lottery tickets and present them to retailers to claim a prize when it is necessary for undercover duties "
Are they morons? Losing tickets are useless for enforcement purposes, most tickets are losers, and they'll have to pay retailers a commission on every ticket, so why buy regular tickets from retailers? If they want to check to see if retailers are trying to steal winning lottery tickets from customers they should just issue their own tickets with a barcode that makes them look like a winning ticket. If a clerk is going to steal a winning ticket I'd imagine it won't matter whether they just sold the ticket or somebody walks in the door with the ticket.
"knowingly facilitate, participate in, or otherwise assist in the theft of any lottery ticket from the retail establishment or from a patron or customer of the retail establishment."
I hope they're not also stupid enough to use that specific wording because I'm not sure that somebody simply attempting to cash a ticket would meet the legal requirement to be a "patron or customer". If I buy a ticket I'm certainly a customer of the store I bought the ticket from, but am I a customer of another store if I ask a clerk to scan a ticket from a different store and tell me if it's a winner? A quick Google search didn't turn up any legal definition of "customer" or "patron" in Florida's statutes, and the common definitions describe customers as people who buy something.
It seems to me that "knowingly facilitate, participate in, or otherwise assist in the theft of any lottery ticket" is adequate by itself. At best the rest is irrelevant and at worst it means it's not a (more severe) crime to steal a ticket that was bought elsewhere.