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California Lottery settles lawsuits with two former security staffNews Story
Employees were fired for questioning two jackpot payouts The California State Lottery has paid more than $500,000 to settle lawsuits filed by two former investigators who claimed they were fired for calling attention to jackpots they believed the lottery improperly awarded to recipients who could not prove they were winners. The two ousted lottery cops had flagged a $2 million jackpot in 2015 and a $750,000 prize in 2016 that they argued should not have been paid. It was a travesty the
Oct 9, 2018, 9:25 am - Lottery News

'It was a horrible, horrible crime that I committed,' Jamaican lottery scammer repentsNews Story
Charles Bennett had already lost his home and moved into a trailer to pay the scammers who had taken over his life. Soon he was hiding there in the dark, told in a late-night phone call that he was about to be arrested over unpaid bills. The 85-year-old Massachusetts man would be stopped from selling the trailer by a social services investigation, but he lost all control over his finances. Even then, he starved himself so he could hand over his food allowance to the scammers. He remained conv
Oct 5, 2018, 9:25 am - Lottery News

After bawdy photos, California Lottery workers demand resignationsNews Story
Five veteran Lottery employees on Thursday demanded that senior department executives resign amid investigations into hiring practices and alleged misconduct on a work-related trip two years ago. They addressed the state Lottery Commission one month after an anonymous writer sent a letter to officials in Gov. Jerry Brown's administration that included pictures of senior Lottery leaders carrying on at a Southern California bar. It also included anecdotes describing disparaging treatment of emp
Sep 21, 2018, 12:21 pm - Lottery News

Last defendant in large Jamaican lottery scam convictedNews Story
A federal jury in North Dakota on Friday convicted a Rhode Island woman of helping scam elderly Americans out of millions of dollars, capping a large-scale Jamaican lottery scam case that authorities have been investigating and prosecuting for six years. Jurors found Melinda Bulgin, 28, guilty of 15 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering, after 3 1/2 hours of deliberations over two days. Defense attorney Kevin Chapman said he likely will appeal. The Providence woman was the last
Sep 15, 2018, 8:36 pm - Lottery News

China probes yet another lottery official suspected of corruptionNews Story
Try as it might, China's sole form of legal gambling simply can't escape allegations of corruption committed by the officials in charge. This week, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that Wang Suying, the former director of the China Welfare Lottery Issuance Management Center, was under investigation by the ministry's disciplinary inspection and supervisory departments for what was described as serious violations of the [Communist] Party discipline. The 57-year-old Wang began wor
Sep 15, 2018, 8:24 pm - Lottery News

Last defendant in Jamaican lottery scam case going to trialNews Story
A Rhode Island woman accused of funneling lottery scam money between the U.S. and Jamaica through her airline job goes on trial in federal court in North Dakota this week. She is the last of 27 defendants in the case that began seven years ago this month. Here's a look at the case and the upcoming trial of Melinda Bulgin, which is expected to last up to 10 days. Why is this case a big deal? The Federal Trade Commission estimates that lottery scams could be a billion-dollar-a-year industry
Sep 10, 2018, 10:36 pm - Lottery News

UK Lottery botched raffle draw resultsNews Story
Winning tickets worth millions may have been discarded Five players in a UK National Lottery raffle missed out on becoming millionaires after a technical fault on its website hid winning tickets, it can be revealed. A temporary page on the National Lottery website hid raffle prizes worth 5.45 million (US$7 million) from players in a 2016 Lotto Olympic Medal Draw, meaning winners may have been misled into discarding winning tickets they thought were worthless. Gambling watchdogs have hit
Aug 26, 2018, 9:48 am - Lottery News

California Lottery officials seen in bawdy photos sent to governorNews Story
A package of bawdy photos allegedly showing senior state Lottery leaders carrying on at a Southern California piano bar, with one image showing an official putting his head up a woman's shirt, was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown's office last week in an appeal from an anonymous employee urging the administration to investigate the department. Brown's office late Thursday said he is asking the attorney general's office to look into the letter and the attached photos. The contents of the letter ar
Aug 10, 2018, 7:51 am - Lottery News

CT Lottery official disciplined for botched raffle draw claims lottery has vendetta against himNews Story
The Connecticut Lottery Corp. opened 2018 with a million dollar blunder at a Jan. 1 drawing, and months of controversy followed. But that seemed to die down as the agency recently reported a record $345 million in revenue on $1.2 billion in annual ticket sales, and took a step toward normality last month by hiring Gregory Smith, the acting Illinois lottery chief, to fill its long-vacant CEO position. However, the surface calm is deceiving. There's still big trouble. It comes in the form of
Aug 5, 2018, 8:25 am - Lottery News

EuroMillions ticket mistakenly ripped in half wins Scottish couple $67 millionNews Story
The winners of a 57.9 million (US$67.3 million) EuroMillions jackpot were initially told they did not have a winning ticket and it was ripped in half and put in the garbage. But a message on a lottery terminal in Fred and Lesley Higgins's local Aberdeenshire shop told them to keep hold of the ripped ticket and call operator Camelot. They were given the torn ticket back, went home and checked the numbers to find they did indeed match and they were the winners of the July 10 jackpot. But
Aug 2, 2018, 7:31 am - Lottery News