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Illinois woman loses out on $50K lottery ticket after buying it with drug moneyNews Story
A woman who lived with a Decatur drug dealer ended up losing big time when she took a judicial gamble on winning back the proceeds of a $50,000 lottery ticket. The state of Illinois had initially seized the money as the ill-gotten gains of a ticket bought with drug money. But then a Macon County judge later ruled against the state and awarded the lottery cash to the woman, Tykisha Lofton. Now, in a decision filed Sept. 27, the three-judge Fourth District Appeals Court ruled unanimously to
Oct 7, 2016, 7:03 am - Lottery News

Massachusetts woman arrested for alleged lottery scamNews Story
A Massachusetts woman was arrested Tuesday for allegedly trying to bilk an 82-year-old man from New Jersey out of more than $6,000 in a lottery scheme. Adair Lane, 67, of Centerville, Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty to forgery of a check, uttering a false check and larceny of more than $250 during her arraignment at Barnstable District Court on Wednesday. Adair was attempting to cash more than $6,000 in money orders at the TD Bank in Centerville when bank employees called police, accordi
Sep 22, 2016, 12:51 pm - Lottery News

Lottery-winning couple 'defrauded' by tax businessNews Story
Includes video report A husband and wife who won big off a 2014 Illinois Lottery scratch-off say they don't want what happened to them to happen to anyone else. Rafael Borsas says he and his wife, who make less than $80,000 a year, went to a nearby Key Express Tax service to have their taxes prepared for them. Instead of being charged $160 for a 1040 single family house owners service, they were overcharged nearly $2,000: $300 for income tax and $1,700 for a gambling bonus. The commissi
Sep 6, 2016, 11:44 am - Lottery News

Prosecutors say 2 more men may be linked to lottery riggingsNews Story
Prosecutors in the case of a former lottery insider convicted last year in a national Hot Lotto jackpot-rigging scandal are seeking to subpoena records from two attorneys they believe could be tied to the plot. Documents filed on Tuesday by the lead prosecutor in the case, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Rob Sand, seek to subpoena records from Texas attorneys J. Thad Whisenant and Luis Vallejo. Authorities assert that immediately after investigators attempted to interview Whisenant about t
Aug 24, 2016, 6:21 pm - Lottery News

Trio charged in lottery ticket theft plead not guiltyNews Story
By Todd Northrop An Iowa woman, her boyfriend, and her mother have all plead not guilty to charges of stealing a winning scratch lottery ticket and working together to attempt to claim the prize. (See 3 charged in theft of $250,000 lottery ticket, Lottery Post, Aug. 5, 2016.) The boyfriend, Johnny Long Jr., Monday entered his written plea in Buena Vista County District Court to theft of a lottery ticket or share. The Sioux Rapids, Iowa, resident is 26 years old. His trial is set for Sep
Aug 16, 2016, 9:02 am - Lottery News

NY man sentenced to 4+ years in prison for lottery scam targeting elderlyNews Story
A New York man who ran a bogus lottery scam, in which elderly people were told they won millions but would have to pay taxes in advance to receive a payout, has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison and ordered to repay more than $733,000. Wilder Vladimir Merelan, 29, of West Hempsted, New York, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison by Judge Mark L. Wolf in U.S. District Court in Boston, according to the U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz's office. Wolf also ordered him to p
Aug 11, 2016, 2:13 pm - Lottery News

Appeals court hands loss to New Jersey sports betting effortNews Story
A federal appeals court on Tuesday dealt another defeat to New Jersey's years long attempt to legalize sports betting, setting aside the state's legal challenge to a federal betting ban. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling invalidated a law passed by New Jersey in 2014 that would have allowed sports betting at casinos and racetracks. The court found New Jersey's law violated the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which limits sports betting to the handful of states
Aug 9, 2016, 11:07 am - Lottery News

New Mexico's gas pump lottery sales face legal hurdleNews Story
The Play at the Pump pilot program is facing a legal test regarding how New Mexico customers purchase their Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets. As Lottery Post reported last week, consumers can now purchase New Mexico lottery tickets at some gas pumps without having to enter a store. However, the New Mexico House and Ways Committee subsequently objected that state law allows for the purchase of lottery tickets by only cash and checks, not debit cards as used at the pump, and attempts
Aug 9, 2016, 10:40 am - Lottery News

3 charged in theft of $250,000 lottery ticketNews Story
An employee at an Iowa lottery retailer is charged with stealing a winning $250,000 instant scratch ticket and working with her boyfriend and mother in a clumsy attempt to claim the prize, investigators said last week. Prosecutors allege that Casey's general store employee Ashley Bosler, 20, found the winning ticket by scratching off a corner and scanning the bar code that confirmed it was a winner of the game's top prize. She allegedly hadn't paid for the ticket and was too young to play,
Aug 5, 2016, 9:59 am - Lottery News

Iowa court reverses part of Tipton's lottery fraud convictionNews Story
An Iowa appeals court on Wednesday upheld a former lottery employee's conviction for rigging the computer system to generate the winning ticket in a $16 million jackpot, but reversed a conviction for attempting to cash in on the ticket. The conviction stems from Eddie Tipton's work for the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association, or MSLA, which produces computers that generate random numbers for lotteries in multiple states. As an employee of the association, Tipton was barred from playing
Jul 28, 2016, 8:23 am - Lottery News