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Lottery winner imprisoned for buying tickets with drug moneyNews Story
A $12 million Texas lottery winner who bought his lucky ticket with drug proceeds got two strikes today: a 24-year federal prison sentence and an order to return the money.A federal judge sentenced Jose Luis Betancourt, 52, who was convicted by a jury in June of conspiracy and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The jury in a second verdict said Betancourt should forfeit his lottery jackpot because the ticket was purchased with drug proceeds.Betancourt had been traffickin
Nov 5, 2003, 5:34 am - Lottery News

Lost and found? $1.4M lottery ticket winds up in courtNews Story
On Sept. 16, 2002, a New Jersey Pick 6 lottery ticket was sold from the Sunshine Grocery store in Hoboken. The numbers, randomly generated as a quick pick, proved to be the very lucky indeed. But a court will have to decide for whom.Several days after the ticket was sold, a brother and sister from Union City presented the lone winning ticket in the $4 million drawing to the New Jersey Lottery Commission in Trenton. Ecstatic at their good fortune but uncertain of their English (they are from Pu
Oct 30, 2003, 5:16 am - Lottery News

Home-schooling advocates debate legality of lotteryNews Story
State Attorney General Paul Summers has been asked to rule if Tennessee's lottery-funded scholarship program is unconstitutional for making home-schooled students meet higher standards to receive a scholarship than formally educated students. State Rep. Glen Casada, R-College Grove, made the request Wednesday. He said requiring home-schooled students to score a minimum of 23 on their ACT to qualify while other students must score only a 19 is discriminatory and unfair. Proponents of a lottery di
Oct 24, 2003, 3:57 am - Lottery News

Lotto Wife: He Left MeNews Story
The Melville, New York woman who hit a $25 million New York Lotto jackpot in February has spoken publicly for the first time and said that contrary to her estranged husband's claims, she didn't run out on him and it was he who left her.Connie Parker, 74, who has been married to Kenneth Parker, 77, for 16 years, said that before her husband filed for divorce in May, he emptied their safe deposit box, taking their bankbook, her passport, her birth certificate and other legal papers. I am hurt. I a
Oct 23, 2003, 3:59 am - Lottery News

Cabbies win share of Big Game jackpotNews Story
A former Atlanta cabbie says the nearly $2 million he was awarded from a disputed Big Game lottery pot is a bittersweet victory.While Patrick Atakora is an instant millionaire on paper, he and five co-defendants who each were awarded $346,357 by Fulton County Superior Court still face the challenge of collecting the money.On Tuesday, a jury found Atakora and five other West African cabdrivers in Atlanta were denied their fair share of the winnings, which were distributed to 23 other drivers. The
Oct 23, 2003, 3:46 am - Lottery News

High Court OKs Lottery Worker's ProsecutionNews Story
Massachusetts' high court cleared the way Tuesday for the prosecution of a septuagenarian former Lottery worker accused of stealing money and lottery tickets from the agency.The Supreme Judicial Court overruled a lower court decision that suppressed incriminating comments made by Maxine Sneed, then 70, when she was questioned in her home in 1999 by a state police officer and a lottery investigator.Because she was not in custody, the court ruled, the investigators did not need to read Sneed her M
Oct 16, 2003, 3:40 am - Lottery News

Lottery scammer jailedNews Story
The bagman in an Edmonton bogus lottery scam that bilked $368,000 from vulnerable U.S. seniors was handed a 26-month prison term yesterday.Stephen Sutherland, 43, swore under his breath as a court constable led him away after his plea for a conditional sentence to be served in the community was rejected.Provincial court Judge Allan Lefever ruled it was necessary to put Sutherland behind bars, saying predation on the elderly requires denunciation.Sutherland pleaded guilty yesterday to fraud o
Oct 16, 2003, 3:31 am - Lottery News

Lottery player going to court over Powerball ticketNews Story
Richard Termite Allender is on a mission to find the winner of a $100,000 Powerball ticket sold March 12 at Joes Junction in Trafalgar.Allender believes hes the winner. But if hes not, the Brown County resident said he wants to help the deserving winner claim the prize. And hes prepared to press the Indiana State Lottery Commission until it pays someone, or until hes exhausted all his legal options.After a six-month battle, the commission agreed to release the time the winning ticket was purchas
Oct 13, 2003, 3:54 am - Lottery News

Lottery losers sue for changeNews Story
The Kentucky Lottery Corp. has been hit with another lawsuit challenging its Extra Cash game and its advertising.Keith B. Hunter, former general counsel for the lottery, said he filed the suit last week after seeing a news report about another one filed early this year.Both his lawsuit and the one filed earlier by Ronald Hub, of Stanton, take issue with the wording in a lottery brochure, which was changed after Hub filed his lawsuit. The original brochure said the single-digit numbers on the tic
Oct 13, 2003, 3:50 am - Lottery News

Judge raps FTC over lottery ticket caseNews Story
An Ontario judge has sharply criticized the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for the way it has handled a case against a Canadian businessman who is alleged to have fraudulently sold thousands of lottery tickets across the border.Mr. Justice Arthur Gans of the Ontario Superior Court called the FTC's case against George Yemec a pittance and rapped the agency for spending months investigating Mr. Yemec to turn up allegations that don't come close to fraud. I must confess that I find this lack of a
Oct 13, 2003, 3:44 am - Lottery News