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Virginia hoping the joke's not on themNews Story
It's either an April Fools' joke for the annals or the beginning of an incredibly moneyed life for the nation's newest multimillionaire.Virginia Lottery officials said yesterday that they believe that the winner of last month's $239 million prize has finally, through a lawyer, come forward and is expected to provide the winning Mega Millions ticket for confirmation today.Lottery officials, who learned Feb. 20 that an individual purchased the single winning ticket at the Red Apple convenience sto
Apr 1, 2004, 5:15 am - Lottery News

North Dakota Lottery a model of efficiencyNews Story
As a business with a limited number of potential customers in a sparsely populated territory, North Dakota's state lottery office has been concentrating on ways to keep its expenses down.It has only six employees, including its director. Its main computer sits in Montana, a few feet from another machine that handles the river of numbers for the Montana Powerball game and other lotteries.Because it does not sell scratch tickets, the games that let players know immediately whether they've won or
Mar 29, 2004, 4:25 am - Lottery News

Lottery scammer gets 18 monthsNews Story
A native of Russia was sentenced to 18 months in prison Wednesday in federal court in Chicago for taking part in a telemarketing scam that cheated mostly elderly victims in the United States and Canada.Typically, victims were led to believe they had won a large cash prize but first had to send money to cover duty costs, taxes or liens.One 81-year-old woman from Aurora, repeatedly hit up for more and more money, dventually lost more than $200,000 in the scheme, authorities said.In pleading guilty
Mar 11, 2004, 5:20 am - Lottery News

Calif. lottery 'winner' didn't buy ticketNews Story
The rags-to-riches story of Jaime Chavez Ramos has a new plot: He has signed over a $10 million SuperLotto jackpot to Benjamin Garcia, whom Ramos identified as his cousin.Four days after telling reporters that he was an instant millionaire, Ramos, who lives in the Fresno area, told lottery officials that Garcia actually paid the $1 for the winning quick-pick ticket at Church Market in Calwa.He then signed documents that legally turned the jackpot over to Garcia, said Norma Minas, a Lottery spoke
Mar 1, 2004, 3:57 am - Lottery News

NJ Resident Dreams Up Scratch GameNews Story
It all came to Rocco Promutico in a dream.On a day when he had shoulder surgery, back in 1998, Promutico had a very vivid dream: He was sitting at a table in a casino, playing a game called Six Shooters. I was playing a game that I had never seen before, Dover Township resident Promutico said. When I woke up, I was able to sit down and draw out a whole sketch of how the game was played. From that sketch came the basic structure of a game called Roll 6 Poker, which last month was transforme
Feb 23, 2004, 5:31 am - Lottery News

Minnesota Lottery audit finds high costs, no crimeNews Story
The Minnesota State Lottery spends more money and provides less to the state than comparable lotteries and should revisit its ties to the St. Paul-based marketing company Media Rare Inc., auditors reported Thursday.Legislative Auditor James Nobles released the audit of the lottery about three weeks after former Lottery Director George Andersen died, apparently by suicide. Andersen had met with auditors about the review the day before he was found dead. We found many things to question and critic
Feb 20, 2004, 6:36 am - Lottery News

British Lotto winner's legal problems growNews Story
Michael Carroll picked up his $18 million lottery check wearing a court-issued electronic tracing tag.And the longtime petty criminal's worries have only gotten worse since he became a rich man.Carroll -- dubbed the Lotto Lout in the British press -- recently pleaded guilty to drug possession. He also is accused of receiving $2,000 worth of stolen power tools. Those are just the latest entries on Carroll's long rap sheet, which includes brushes with the law both before and after his big win.Th
Feb 19, 2004, 7:30 am - Lottery News

S.C. officials still looking for $600,000 lottery winnerNews Story
State officials looking for winner who purchased six, $100,000 drawsSouth Carolina Education Lottery officials still are waiting for the winner of Tuesday night's Carolina 5 to claim the $600,000 jackpot.Talk about your odds.Someone purchased six identically numbered tickets to win the South Carolina Education Lottery's Carolina 5 jackpot in Ridgeland on Tuesday. The winners or winner has not stepped forward yet, lottery spokeswoman Tara Robertson said Wednesday afternoon. The Tuesday and Frida
Feb 13, 2004, 7:27 am - Lottery News

Can a lottery win make you happy?News Story
The first Euro Millions lottery draw takes place on Friday, with the prospect of multi-million pound jackpots. How do windfall winners come to grips with their newfound wealth - and does it make them happy? For the price of a newspaper and a chocolate bar, any one of us can buy into a multi-million pound dream. It is a dream that lottery operators are keen to sell to yet more of us with the launch of EuroMillions, a mega draw for the UK, France and Spain aimed at boosting our flagging interest i
Feb 12, 2004, 6:39 am - Lottery News

Ohio man wins lottery twiceNews Story
Bob Woerner of Zanesville, Ohio is counting his blessings -- all $200,000 worth. Woerner won the Dec. 18 drawing of the Buckeye Five with two different tickets bought at two different stores.After the mandatory federal and state tax withholdings totaling 28.5 percent, Woerner received two checks, each for $71,500.Some of the money has been used to buy a new truck and to pay off his house along with other bills. It made for a nice Christmas, Woerner said. I gave some money to Children's Hospit
Feb 4, 2004, 6:33 am - Lottery News