Search

Some on welfare bet big on Maine lottery in pursuit of life-changing winNews Story
Murky state rules mean those who do collect larger prizes may not even lose their public benefits Maine residents on public assistance have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lottery tickets, according to an estimate based on the $22.4 million in large prizes they collected between 2010 and 2014, including eight jackpots worth at least $500,000 each. Yet state rules are so murky that the winnings do not necessarily disqualify anyone from continuing to receive food stamps and other be
Dec 16, 2015, 9:18 am - Lottery News

Texas authorities had previously investigated brother of lottery cheatNews Story
By Todd Northrop The outrageous Hot Lotto rigging scandal that started in Iowa is now spreading into other states including Texas. Officials are taking a second look at a $570,000 winning multi-state lottery ticket purchased a decade ago in Colorado by a Central Texas judge. The investigation does not involve the Texas state lottery. Tommy Tipton, the subject of the investigation, is a Fayette County Justice of the Peace for Precinct 3, based in Flatonia. According to records from the T
Oct 14, 2015, 10:01 am - Lottery News

Driven to death by phone scammersNews Story
The phone calls wouldn't stop. The man on the other end of the line made promises of a big payoff: millions of dollars in prize money. But first the IRS needed $1,500 in taxes, he insisted, then the jackpot would arrive at the family home, a camera crew ready to capture the excitement. The calls came a couple of times a day; other times, nearly 50. Mr. Albert, we need the money to be sent today ... Don't hang up the phone, Mr. Albert ... Mr. Albert, don't tell your wife about this
Oct 7, 2015, 10:08 pm - Lottery News

[UPDATE] D.C. woman who tried to redeem faulty ticket admitted to forging second 'winner'News Story
By Todd Northrop A Washington, D.C. woman who enlisted the help of local media to try and claim a faulty Virginia Lottery scratch-off ticket actually tried to claim a second lottery ticket of the same exact game that she admitted was a forgery. Lottery Post reported Wednesday morning that Ardella Newman of Washington, D.C. is taking the Virginia Lottery to task for denying her claim of a scratch-off ticket that she claims is worth $20,000. The Virginia Lottery had issued a statement that t
Sep 9, 2015, 7:48 pm - Lottery News

NJ Lottery officials still investigating cause of massive outageNews Story
The exact cause and circumstances of a five-day outage that blocked nearly half of New Jersey's lottery retailers from selling printed tickets like Pick 3 and Mega Millions earlier this month are still a mystery, but a few determinations are unanimous. The blackout, although anomalous, was unacceptable, may have been detected sooner and should have been handled better, state officials and executives from Northstar New Jersey, the group responsible for the lottery's sales and marketing, said a
Aug 20, 2015, 8:27 pm - Lottery News

Calif. gas station off the hook in lottery ticket probeNews Story
A Palmdale, California, gas station employee who mistakenly gave $75 to an undercover state compliance officer instead of advising him that he was the holder of a lottery ticket worth $75,000 did not commit fraud, lottery officials said Thursday. California Lottery officials said they were satisfied that the incident was a result of the clerk's misunderstanding of those procedures and that their investigation of the gas station was over. Now we are going to move on, lottery spokesman Russ
May 8, 2015, 8:59 am - Lottery News

NJ Lottery investigating retailer lottery ticket 'discounting' practicesNews Story
Some people seem to have all the luck. And in New Jersey, some of the luckiest people are retailers who sell lottery tickets. Or so it appears from the New Jersey Lottery's list of winners. An Asbury Park Press review of Lottery claims submitted since 2009 found that half of the 20 most frequent prizewinners are either licensed lottery retailers or family members of store operators. As a group, those 10 people collected 840 prizes totaling almost $1.8 million, the Press found. About 70
Dec 6, 2014, 11:30 am - Lottery News

California lottery retailers investigated for massive prize claimsNews Story
Are California Lottery retailers beating the odds, or is there something more going on? A local media investigation found some store owners cashing in winning lottery tickets at surprising rates. It's one of the winningest lottery stores in the Bay Area: Dolce Espresso in San Jose has reported 212 winning tickets worth $600 or more in the past decade. The luckiest winner is owner Minh Nguyen. He's claimed 87 of them. At the Jelly Donut in Daly City, owner Frank Huynh claimed 15 winning
Oct 31, 2014, 1:13 pm - Lottery News

Iowa Lottery still hunting mystery Hot Lotto winner [video]News Story
Includes video report Iowa investigators are asking the public for help in identifying the person who bought a lottery ticket worth $14.3 million that spawned a bizarre, two-year fraud investigation. Investigators want to learn the identity of a white man wearing a hooded sweatshirt who purchased the lottery ticket at a QuikTrip near Interstate Highway 80 on Dec. 23, 2010, said Dave Jobes, an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assistant director, during a news conference Thursday. The
Oct 10, 2014, 8:06 pm - Lottery News

Ohio Lottery investigating frequent winnersNews Story
The top lottery winners in Ohio have claimed hundreds of large prizes over the past decades, some in such short spans of time that it seemingly defies the odds and has prompted investigations by the Ohio Lottery. State lottery investigators track multiple-winners to look for retailers who are either stealing prizes for themselves or store employees turning in tickets for others wanting to avoid paying off debts. A local newspaper examined every prize claim of $600 or more going back to the
Sep 15, 2014, 8:29 am - Lottery News