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Winners of big lottery jackpots often crave anonymity amid challenges to do soNews Story
The tiny Illinois farm town of Red Bud is the kind of place with few strangers and few secrets. Yet the community of 3,700 has a lingering mystery on its hands: Who bought the winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, and why hasn't the winner of the world-record $656 million jackpot come forward? Though secrecy surrounds the ticket sold at the MotoMart convenience store, lottery officials note it's not unusual for winners to lay low and those who advise them say it's just plain smart. It's ex
Apr 11, 2012, 10:20 am - Lottery News

In group lottery wins, splitting the spoils toughNews Story
Every once in a while a lottery jackpot becomes so huge that people can't help but band together in the hope of increasing their odds, pooling their money for a wad of tickets and promising to evenly split the spoils. Seems like a good idea until lightning strikes and the group wins. Then the future involves not only luxury, but also lawsuits. Numerous group winners have been sued by people claiming to have pitched in for the ticket, creating messy fights over what money will be left once the
Apr 4, 2012, 8:10 am - Lottery News

Man struck by lightning hours after buying lottery ticketsNews Story
A Kansas man was struck by lightning hours after buying three Mega Millions lottery tickets, proving in real life the old saying that a gambler is more likely to be struck down from the sky than win the jackpot. Bill Isles, 48, bought three tickets in the record $656 million lottery Thursday at a Wichita, Kan., grocery store. On the way to his car, Isles said he commented to a friend: I've got a better chance of getting struck by lightning than winning the lottery. Later at about 9:30 p
Apr 2, 2012, 1:45 pm - Lottery News

New England states start new lottery game ThursdayNews Story
Updated Mar. 13, 2012, 11:12 am: New game replaces Weekly Grand Extra. By Todd Northrop For the first time ever, the six New England states will jointly run a multi-state lottery game, starting this week. The new Lucky for Life regional draw game begins this Thursday, March 15 for the six following states: Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massechusetts, and Rhode Island. Ticket sales for the new game started Sunday. For Connecticut, the new Lucky for Life replaces a simila
Mar 13, 2012, 9:00 am - Lottery News

Lottery jackpots may get biggerNews Story
$1 billion? Not as crazy as it sounds The Powerball lottery that provided a lucky Rhode Island ticket holder $336.4 million could soon produce jackpots of $500 million or more. Saturday's winner, who purchased a ticket at a Newport Stop Shop, has yet to be identified. But the sixth-largest lottery ticket in U.S. history worth about $210 million as a lump-sum payment could eventually seem like chump change. Had no one picked Saturday's six-number winning combination, the Powerball ticket
Feb 13, 2012, 10:09 pm - Lottery News

Lotto tickets bought with bags of coins lead to bust in massive Metro theftNews Story
A long-running scam to steal thousands of Metro riders' fares unraveled this week after a man in a police uniform driving a Jaguar bought thousands of Virginia lottery tickets with bags and bags of apparently stolen coins. A tip about the odd purchases led authorities to an extensive investigation involving GPS-tracked cars, surveillance videos from Woodbridge gas stations and money drops by an Alexandria underpass. Now two Metro veterans, Horace Dexter McDade, 58, of Bowie, and John Vince
Jan 20, 2012, 7:55 am - Lottery News

11/11/11 was the lottery's lucky dayNews Story
By Todd Northrop Thanks to Friday's lucky date, Nov. 11, 2011, or 11/11/11, lottery ticket sales are booming. All those ones in a row are very attractive for lottery players, since that set of numbers won't roll around again for another 100 years. But many players found that tickets were sold out on combinations with all 1's when they went to purchase a ticket. To ensure every winner gets paid, lotteries with fixed payouts cap sales of certain number combinations. In New York, for examp
Nov 12, 2011, 10:00 pm - Lottery News

San Diego ranked luckiest town in U.S.News Story
San Diego, which has been touted as having one of the best climates in the United States, is also the luckiest, according to a new ranking. The sunny southern California city won the top spot in the Men's Health magazine list of America's 100 luckiest towns, with Baltimore, Phoenix, Wilmington in Delaware and Richmond, Virginia not far behind. Luck is basically our modern world's magic, said David Zinczenko, editor in chief of the magazine. People need to believe in luck because it allows
Oct 14, 2011, 8:54 am - Lottery News

Lottery ticket sales increase across countryNews Story
Financial records for 41 state lotteries that end their fiscal year in June show 28 had higher sales than the year before. Seventeen of those states set all-time sales records. Kate Sweeny, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California-Riverside, said an uptick in lottery sales largely occurs when people feel a lack of control over events larger than themselves, such as the economy. Jeff Anderson, head of the executive committee of the North American Association of S
Sep 6, 2011, 9:05 am - Lottery News

Lottery winner must pay for court-appointed attorneyNews Story
$1 million lottery winner faces meth charges There was only one problem with Megan Gatlin's using a court-appointed attorney in her upcoming criminal trial: She's a lottery winner. The 28-year-old Vancouver woman won $1 million this spring in the Oregon Lottery's St. Patrick's Day Raffle. So when she appeared Friday in Clark County Superior Court to face charges of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and third-degree theft, her attorney questioned the appointment. Def
Sep 5, 2011, 1:43 pm - Lottery News