WOW, TALK ABOUT ADDICTION: Woman stole $2.3M to buy lottery tickets

Comment #33

four4me — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 07:10:39 GMT

addiction

Comment #32

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 07:08:10 GMT

if she had that much money why play the lottery in the first place

Comment #31

pamelab — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:57:57 GMT

She probably went to different stores in a day to purchase, and you can best believe if she was that good she can hide stealing that large amount, she knew how to get around the IRS. Maybe she did'nt purchase the 6000.00 everyday. I've been in line at the stores and have seen people play 100.00 on 1 set of numbers. Maybe she was betting like that. If she bought a system I'd like to know what it was, so I won't make the mistake of buying it in the future.

Comment #30

pamelab — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:49:53 GMT

I agree with you, this woman had another addiction, she had a stealing addiction. This woman got high off of stealing and gambling. I can't even feel sorry for her, its unbelievable how greed infested her life

Comment #29

mangeydog — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 01:15:48 GMT

Hah!!! Okay, I figured(wrongly) that you were being a stooge about it. My apologies jxp. I'm sure you do type faster than me. I was eating soup so I was typing one handed. Although that's no excuse, I do most things on the internet one-handed.

Comment #28

justxploring — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 06:34:17 GMT

I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much. Yes they did say that strange as it sounds.

Konane,

When I used to vacation in Vegas many years ago, people told me that all the time. If I bet $5 on a Blackjack hand and lost I was told to bet $10 and then $20 and then $40. I finally asked So what happens when I run out of money? I read on a site once that in life persistence can often lead to success but in gambling... [ More ]

Comment #27

justxploring — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 06:22:27 GMT

Not accusing you of anything, mangeydog! We were at the same time and I thought it was interesting that we both had the same idea too. Who's paranoid?

I just type faster...nya, nya

Comment #26

weshar75 — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 02:00:31 GMT

I have seen a handful of people over my 13 years of playing the lottery play big on the lottery. They were at special times in the year. It was always during the tax return season and at the holidays mainly christmas. I would be buying tickets and some one would come in and buy a book of scratch-its or if the jackpot was high on powerball $200 to $500 on powerball. I guess I could see someone spending that much money on lottery if they bought books of scratch-its. 5 books of $5 or $10 ticke... [ More ]

Comment #25

konane — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:18:26 GMT

I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much. Yes they did say that strange as it sounds.

That may have been that person's strategy, along with being stuck on stupid for stealing.

Comment #24

mangeydog — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:30:53 GMT

We posted at virtually the same time, it just took me longer because I was eating chicken and dumpling soup while I was typing. Don't be paranoid, I wasn't copying you. Sheesh

Comment #23

justxploring — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:43:49 GMT

Isn't this what I just posted

Comment #22

mangeydog — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:13:36 GMT

Maybe she still has a great deal of the money stashed somewhere and said she blew it all on the lottery so the authorities wouldn't be searching for it. Blowing all of it on the lottery is almost equivalent to saying it went up in smoke. Plus, instead of just being a thieving scoundrel she gets to attain an appearance of being a victim herself. I'm sure some people will feel sorry for her rather than despise her. It's a form of the twinkie defense . Blame one of society's ills rather than a... [ More ]

Comment #21

justxploring — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:09:28 GMT

Could this be a bogus insanity defense? If she was caught stealing and it was because she resented the rich doctors, she won't get off with a slap on the wrist. If she BLAMES her addiction on a gambling problem, she might generate a lot of sympathy. Isn't that what people do these days...blame their crimes on someone or something besides their own greed, lust or hatred? If you kill someone for drugs, blame your abusive parents, the drug dealer who got you hooked or society for not accepting yo... [ More ]

Comment #20

TheGameGrl — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:18:39 GMT

I agree that on the surface it would seem fishy. In this case the fish was caught in a small pond. ITs VERY easy to splurge on Pick 3/Pick4 match 6/ Powerball or MegaBall and instant games! Instant games have tickets that cost $20.00 a pop! I buy the story because Ive read how church book keepers steal money for years! ANd the church pardons them! WHy? Because to them its not their money, its the good lords.

A physician office depends on a book keeper! The physician is skilled in medical area... [ More ]

Comment #19

four4me — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:37:33 GMT

Something sounds fishy about this story. where did she find time to do her job if she was buying as much as 6000 dollars a day worth of tickets. what counter person wouldn't be suspicious of a person buying that many tickets every day or even once a week. Anyone with half a brain knows no body makes 42,000 a week in salary. i have a difficult enough time buying 20 bucks worth of tickets let alone more. Even if she gave the lottery terminal operator a list every day the operator would be spending... [ More ]

Comment #18

luckieStarr — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:10:19 GMT

See, that's why Oprah still signs her own checks...230...2300 in honor of allof that stolen money.

Comment #17

CASH Only — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:47:41 GMT

She reportedly concentrated on annuity-only scratch games. ANYBODY who plays them has a gambling problem. I wonder how much she blew on NY Lotto

Comment #16

dvdiva — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:17:02 GMT

Well at least it's a good example to people who spend large amounts per drawing that it doesn't increase your odds, At least if she had bought art with the money the company could have gotten the money back.

Comment #15

KY Floyd — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 06:23:10 GMT

What would you expect? Spending $2.3 million on the lottery pretty much guarantees losing half that amount, because that's how much the state typically takes before money goes into the prize pool. If only 50% of the ticket price goes towards prizes then statistically you should expect to win 50 cents for every dollar you play, and the more money you spend the more likely that your results will be statistically normal. Even if she had spent the money on a game with low odds like NY lotto she wou... [ More ]

Comment #14

LckyLary — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 03:07:45 GMT

One thing to be very thankful for: IF YOU WERE NOT THE POOR PERSON STANDING IN LINE BEHIND HER waiting to play your $6 or $10! I'm known to wait 15 or 20 minutes for someone playing only $100.

Comment #13

Litebets27 — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 01:08:25 GMT

I was wondering the same thing, that and I wonder how many other people are stealing from this company. It sounds like it's as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

litebets

Comment #12

fja — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:24:58 GMT

If it was my money and she won with it I would have settled out of court for about half the jackpot, anybody wonder about 2 million plus disappearing, this guy had to be making 10 times that much to not miss it .. regardless of how she cooked the books

Comment #11

NNB1980 — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:06:14 GMT

That makes me feel better about my 6 dollars a week habit. It is a game of chance, it only takes one ticket to win

Comment #10

justxploring — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 23:46:36 GMT

So if someone wins with stolen money, does she get to keep the prize money? What if she did win a big jackpot and then was convicted of theft? Wouldn't this be similar to using another person's credit card to play the lottery

Comment #9

RJOh — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 23:29:04 GMT

Maybe she should have come to LP and got some advice on how to win, there's people here who claim with the right system and enough money one can make a profit. Or she could have bought a premium memberships and spent $50 (fantasy money) per day per over 100 different lotteries and lost a lot less.

Comment #8

justxploring — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 23:04:16 GMT

YEOW! $10 dollars a day? That makes me feel better about my $10 a week habit.

Planty said investigators believe Donnelly may have won some small jackpots of $5,000 or even $25,000, but it was never enough to cover the amount she had stolen overall.

Oy! So this means that a woman who spent over $2.3 million playing didn't win a big jackpot? Not too encouraging for someone betting $500 to $1,000 a year.

Comment #7

DoubleDown — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:59:00 GMT

You are correct about the stupid part, but I disagree about the gambling problem. If gambling wasn't the problem, why then did she not just spend it on something else, like cars, jewelry, trips, etc....

Comment #6

RJOh — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:52:37 GMT

This woman didn't have a gambling problem, she had a stealing problem and was stupid to boot. Why would any reasonable person steel $6000 to buy scratch-off lottery tickets that probably didn't have a $6000 prize even on a winner and if it did, they would have to pay out $1000 of it in taxes.

Comment #5

DoubleDown — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 20:11:23 GMT

This is really sad...

She should have called the gambling addiction hot line a long time ago....

If you need to win you need to quit, as the saying goes.....

DD

Comment #4

undress — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 20:09:44 GMT

Wow....would of been better off....taking 2.3 million and live on an island some where.....lol lol .....some people's kids...lol

Comment #3

Raven62 — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:55:13 GMT

She Gambled (Twice):

1. Stole from her Employers

2. Bet on Games of Chance

and Lost (Thrice):

1. The Games of Chance

1. Her Freedom

2. Must Repay the Stolen Money

Comment #2

liberal47 — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:53:06 GMT

Yeow! 6k a day, that makes me feel real good about my 10 dollar a day habit.

Comment #1

bellyache — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:48:53 GMT

Yeah, I think she has a gambling problem. I can't believe that she got away with over 2 million dollars before being caught. I guess she did a good job of hiding her theft.

WOW, TALK ABOUT ADDICTION: Woman stole $2.3M to buy lottery tickets

Lottery Post — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:35:49 GMT

This is not the kind of jackpot one Long Island woman probably had in mind.

The former bookkeeper for a doctors' office pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree grand larceny, admitting she stole more than $2.3 million that she used to buy lottery tickets. Prosecutors, who described the bookkeeper as having a gambling addiction, said the woman spent as much as $6,000 a day playing various lotto and scratch-off lottery games.

She spent most of it to feed her pathological addiction, said... [ More ]