Auditor general finds no fault with Pa. Lottery, but unusual wins remain unexplained

Comment #30

noise-gate — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 03:17:39 GMT

l hear you Wizeguy.Gets one thinking that even in Shaw's lifetime, he must have seen his fair share of spoilt children, masquerading as adults. Throwing tantrums when they did not get their way because someone stepped on their toes or hurt their feelings.It has been said that if you stand in Piccadilly Circus long enough, everyone in the world will pass by.The same could also be said about any forum, if you hang around long enough is bound to show up sooner than later.

Comment #29

Dd2160 — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 20:46:34 GMT

Wtf I ve been doing...thats insane but congrats to the heavy hitters in Pa.

Comment #28

wizeguy — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 20:12:40 GMT

Ditto on the liking of the signature. BrainyQuote has oodles of quotes by Bernard Shaw.

Good luck to all on lottery wins this year

Comment #27

noise-gate — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 22:03:25 GMT

Thanks G- l like my signature too. Took me sometime to get one that says all things worthwhile. There is another signature out that that says something like... don't give up on your dreams just because someone gave up on theirs. Saw the movie 12 years a slave last night for the first time..

Comment #26

Soledad — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 19:38:22 GMT

I still find it unsettling that the State is complaining at how much a person has won. My opinion on this matter would be to complain about how much the State has won rather.

Comment #25

KY Floyd — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 08:04:55 GMT

so no one but her had access to those tickets from that store.

It wasn't directly about preventing anyone else from buying tickets for the game from that store. Buying all of the available tickets was about getting lots and lots of the undistributed tickets sent to that store in the hopes that the unclaimed prize that she thought was available would be in one of the packages that was sent to the store. I've got no idea how fast the tickets were selling in general, but let's figure 1000 per w... [ More ]

Comment #24

DELotteryPlyr — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 16:34:46 GMT

Yes, if I remember right - her method was to buy ALL the tickets from the same store with the mind set that the jackpot winner will eventually be sent to the store. She worked with the store and bought the entire pack when they got it and then waited until they got the next one, so no one but her had access to those tickets from that store.

And it worked

Comment #23

Redd55 — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 15:01:04 GMT

This reminds me of that female Stanford statistician who won all those jackpots playing scratchers in Texas. She won it all legally. She just had her own method and also invested a lot in buying tickets that did not win.

Comment #22

Soledad — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 11:44:28 GMT

I don't like stories like these. This is a negative story. I've seen people drop $1,000 cash on a jackpot game. Vendors tell me all the time about people dropping $600 on a jackpot game one drawing. They also tell me they get $3 back! Look it's nothing new. People spend money on these games all the time. $200 on scratchers ain't nothing. Trust me, I see it all the time; from my own hand as well (lol). What I don't like about this type of story is that a person will become investigated for 'winni... [ More ]

Comment #21

grwurston — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 04:20:12 GMT

Yes, some people do spend a lot of money on the lottery. Many years ago I would stop at the 7/11 on my way home from work at night. The clerk was a friend and we would shoot the breeze for awhile. Anyways, there was a guy who would come in and regularly drop $200 at a time on scratch off tickets, buying 5 or 10 at a time. I couldn't say if he ever hit anything big or not, but he always took his winners with him when he left.

There is also a lady I've seen in a couple of stores who spends $125... [ More ]

Comment #20

KY Floyd — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 23:44:46 GMT

Were any of the frequent winners retailers?

The article clearly says there were multiple retailers among them.

You're talking on average, 1.3 wins a month over 12 years.

That could be one of the reasons it would be suspicious. Lottery prizes may return 50 to 60% of the money spent on tickets, but in most games the majority of the money is paid out as small prizes. That means that for most games you'll get far less than 50 to 60% back as large prizes. Of course the PA lottery kno... [ More ]

Comment #19

dpoly1 — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 23:02:07 GMT

The store where I purchase my tickets sells a lot of winners!

Very small town.

Top 25 of lottery retailers in PA!

They have a special touch screen lottery machine there.

Comment #18

grwurston — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 22:08:32 GMT

NG, I do believe the winners referred to in the story would love your signature, as well as anyone that wins frequently. Statisticians be snip ed...

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

Comment #17

Bleudog101 — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 14:38:38 GMT

Point well taken. Thank you for your excellent analysis of the situation @ hand.

Comment #16

Soledad — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:27:05 GMT

I fail to see how those wins are classified as unusually high. Just because they're different in the sense that they are more than average does not make them in any way in my opinion unusual or duplicitous. Statisticians aside, I fail to see how even a statisticians point of view is relevant. These are vague and general opinions and observations that have nothing to do with fact. In my humble opinion. What is the lottery saying, that people are just willing to throw their money away without any... [ More ]

Comment #15

JAMORA — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 06:10:19 GMT

Wait, so they're saying that one would have to spend almost 8 million to win almost 350K?

What

Comment #14

JAMORA — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 06:03:41 GMT

Why is it so hard to believe that a few people can find order in chaos....that's my approach, and it works better th n birthdays or whatnot...

Comment #13

noise-gate — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 04:15:44 GMT

When Dr Fanton says its a torn meniscus, its a torn meniscus!

Was an outpatient procedure as well fellini, think it took less than 30 minutes. It's been nothing but marvellous ever since.

Comment #12

fellini — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 03:11:54 GMT

at noise gate, So was it a torn meniscus or a strain?=0p

Comment #11

noise-gate — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 02:34:59 GMT

.. G, especially with the statisticians comment. These guys are no different than some doctors out there, relying heavily on guesswork. Case in point, l loved playing racketball in my late teens. Then, the knee started swelling up after each game. Went to see a doc: Don t worry, it s just a little strain, it will pass.Yeah right. Since the wife worked for a hospital group, she got me in to see Doctor Gary Fanton, used to, or still does work on the 49ers- one visit, 10 second on the slab and he s... [ More ]

Comment #10

ckrakowski — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 01:55:32 GMT

So the audit found in favor of the lottery and against the players.

What a surprise. I am guessing they were paid off to find in favor of the lottery.

Comment #9

grwurston — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 23:29:12 GMT

Nadine's winnings occurred between April 2004 and December 2016. That is a total of 153 months. She had 209 wins. You're talking on average, 1.3 wins a month over 12 years.

I love how these statisticians always claim the odds are so steep, people would have to spend millions of dollars in order to win so often. That may be true if you're only buying quick picks. But serious players study the games they play, and know their states well enough to know how to take advantage at certain times.... [ More ]

Comment #8

MillionsWanted — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 22:13:32 GMT

Perhaps it shows it is possible to win with systems. Some of these winners might have used systems. I see there are some strategy books even for instant scratch lotteries.

Comment #7

zephbe — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 22:00:34 GMT

Were any of the frequent winners retailers? If it's in the article I missed it.

Comment #6

Sarge0202 — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 20:05:17 GMT

Now my comments for the winners in the original article.

For the retail owners, do I think many can get their wins by discounting or flat out theft, YES.

But let us consider other possibilities.

If a person (retailer or not) wins $600+ in a year, they can write off their losses up to the winning amount. By getting a tax break on your losses, the amount you actually lose is less, therefore your risk is less. With the lower risk, you can gamble more.

Second, for retailers and scratcher... [ More ]

Comment #5

Sarge0202 — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 19:30:10 GMT

Not sure if he was investigated, but let me cover some points about some of the wins he had. I am not sure if he is a retailer either.

Win 1: $10,000 - Jan 1993 (scratch-off ticket)

Win 3: Wheel of Fortune Holiday trip to Los Angeles - June 2000 (valued at $3,594.66) (scratch-off ticket 2nd chance drawing )

Win 4: Elvis Holiday trip to Memphis - Oct 2001 (valued at $4,966) (scratch-off ticket 2nd chance drawing )

Scratch wins have better overall odds of winning then most jackpot... [ More ]

Comment #4

noise-gate — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 18:38:26 GMT

How is it that 7 times lottery winner, Richard Lustig has never been investigated or has he

Comment #3

GoogilyMoogily — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 17:23:51 GMT

Pittsburgh is spelled with an h After the steel mills closed, after the unemployment benefits expired, after the welfare expired I knew of a guy that turned bookie. He knew the numbers before they hit. He did time in the University of Western Penitentiary for his part. Others did time as well. The news said some of the ping pong balls were heavy.

Comment #2

music* — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 17:11:36 GMT

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck then it is a DUCK.

There is a lot of mendacities here. Lying is not good for our Country nor it's people.

Comment #1

Bleudog101 — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:50:58 GMT

Don't know what to think of this.

Now some crazies will find some of these individuals and cause them bodily harm. The red flag is flying compliments of the Pennsylvania lottery or perhaps target is a better word.

Be curious as to what other LP members have to say, I'm really @ loss for words right now.

Auditor general finds no fault with Pa. Lottery, but unusual wins remain unexplained

Lottery Post — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:35:08 GMT

Pennsylvania's Auditor General says that he has full confidence in the integrity of the Pennsylvania Lottery following a review in response to an investigation in 2017 that found some Pennsylvanians have claimed lottery tickets with seemingly improbable frequency.

In an interview Monday, Eugene DePasquale said he met with lottery officials and was given a thorough tour of its operations and an explanation of its security procedures.

DePasquale added that the lottery told him it had investi... [ More ]