Florida woman arrested for conducting illegal lottery, selling fake tickets

Comment #16

tlady4 — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 01:38:33 GMT

Bring back BetSlips

Comment #15

tlady4 — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 01:36:38 GMT

Bring Back BetSlips

Comment #14

Brock Lee — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 18:04:55 GMT

we are so lucky to have a confessed expert in illegal backroom gambling dens here on the forum to educate us all.

Comment #13

Artist77 — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 16:55:41 GMT

And considering the probability that she may just be the front of a larger criminal enterprise and one targeting lower income and minority communities. I always smh at the values of a few lp members.

Comment #12

billybucks — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 16:28:32 GMT

Yet to hear a customer complain about not being paid at those places. The players understood that a one or two day delay was a possibility due to cash flow that might happen once or twice a year. These were not prizes in the thousands that were won. You do not have any clue how back room gambling dens operate. I do. They were getting an 80% payback on their play. The state gives you 50% on a similar type numbers game like Keno or daily numbers. If word got out that they didn't payoff don't you t... [ More ]

Comment #11

LottoNoobie — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 16:24:59 GMT

Uncle Sam needs his cut

Comment #10

Brock Lee — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 16:02:01 GMT

new store policy: if we don't have enough cash on hand to pay out our illegal backroom lottery prizes, you may collect your winnings in the form of toilet paper, beer and baby diapers.

Comment #9

billybucks — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 13:29:28 GMT

That is misleading. They maybe couldn't pay them off that day if they won too much but would later. No one would play there if they didn't pay off. Their payouts were better than the states were or they would have just played with the state. They had say 50 players in the room at one time and two people running the game. No way they could have refused paying if they valued their lives. Illegal bookmaking has been going on in this country for well over 100 years and very rarely did they clamp dow... [ More ]

Comment #8

Artist77 — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:08:06 GMT

Someone needs to reread the article. There was no guaranteed payout if there was a winner.

Yes, it was fraud and an unlicensed business. People were being ripped off.

Additionally, the affidavit goes on to say, she told officers that if a customer had won the lottery using the numbers they played, they would only be paid out if the store had the funds to pay them.

Comment #7

zephbe — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 07:43:42 GMT

It's a Cuban lottery game-illegal in US. Google LaBolita Cubana. They list lottery results same as US lotteries.

Comment #6

billybucks — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 05:05:57 GMT

There was nothing fake about them. You got a 80-1 payoff if you selected the correct number out of 100 in the drum or whatever they used. Illegal yes, but not fake. They paid the winners or no one would have played. No one was saying oh this ticket does not look like a Florida lottery ticket. It's fake. They may have rigged it in some manner now and then but the patrons wouldn't have stood for that for long. How does the government get away with conducting a lottery that takes much more out of t... [ More ]

Comment #5

Boom Boom — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 22:10:13 GMT

They are printed out like receipts with the state and #'s you want to play. Someone did not like her because this type of lottery is all over the country. Especially Florida...

Comment #4

Artist77 — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 15:42:43 GMT

Googled it and bolita is Spanish for little ball. Type of lottery was popular in late 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and some working class populations in Florida.

Maybe I need to address my lottery picks by calling them my little Bolitas. Lol

Comment #3

sully16 — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:41:04 GMT

She had a secret password, rotflmao

Comment #2

Bleudog101 — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:04:47 GMT

Here my prejudices thought I'd see another last name there. A good morning laugh came to me.

Artist 77, just read your comment again and last sentence is the same thought I had.

Comment #1

Artist77 — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 12:57:40 GMT

Love this story. We have seen people altering a ticket but never selling fake tickets. Would love to see what the tickets looked like.

Florida woman arrested for conducting illegal lottery, selling fake tickets

Lottery Post — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 12:04:04 GMT

Customers entered hidden room using secret phrase

By Kate Northrop

A Florida woman was arrested for operating a gambling house out of a small shopping center store last week and was witnessed by investigators selling fake lottery tickets.

Investigators arrested a woman operating an illegal lottery in the backroom of a small store in a West Palm Beach shopping center.

Palm Beach County records show Viviana Andrea Navarro Gonzalez, 41, was booked at the Palm Beach County Jail last