Includes audio report
Meetings to take 'several days'
The Iowa Lottery's security chief says it will likely take "several...days" of face-to-face meetings with a New York attorney and others to get all the questions answered about a winning "Hot Lotto" ticket.
The ticket was sent via FedEx to a Des Moines law firm and turned in at Iowa Lottery headquarters just hours before the deadline.
Steve Bogle, the vice president of security at the Iowa Lottery, says he needs to determine the chain of possession of that ticket.
"Start from where it came in here at the lottery headquarters and follow that ticket all the way back to the purchaser at the Quik Trip that day," Bogle says.
"I suspect that may take more than a couple of hours to corroborate that information."
A New York attorney signed his name on the back of the ticket and indicated the winnings are to be deposited in a trust. The attorney had indicated he'd fly into Des Moines this week, but lottery officials say attorney Crawford Shaw's travel schedule would have allowed him to spend just one or two hours in Des Moines.
"Just meeting with Mr. Shaw is not going to be enough for me to give a recommendation...to pay this ticket," Bogle says.
According to the lottery's security chief, there's been "no credible allegation" that the ticket belonged to someone else, but Bogle says he needs to determine if the ticket at any time was in the possession of an "unauthorized" player. Anyone under the age of 21 or people who work for or do business with the Iowa Lottery are all prohibited by law from playing Hot Lotto and other Iowa Lottery games.
Bogle, along with Iowa Lottery president and C.E.O. Terry Rich, spoke with reporters late this morning.
"Our job is to make sure we're conducting a fair game, that we pay the right person, that the person hasn't violated any laws," Rich said. "That's not to accuse (anybody of) anything here."
Lottery officials have reviewed the security video from the Des Moines convenience store where the ticket was purchased, but they're not saying whether it was a man or a woman who bought the ticket, only that it appeared the person was of legal age to buy it, although that must be confirmed with the in-person interviews as well.
"Our hope that is Mr. Shaw walks in, tells us the story, we make a couple of calls to the people and talk to those people or go out and meet with those people or he brings them with (him) and (lottery security chief) Steve (Bogle) says, 'Hey, all good,'" Rich said. "Because of the circumstances of coming in late, because of the mystery we've all seen with this, it's our fiduciary responsibility to take an extra step and to see some of that."
Lottery officials say the ticket is worth more than $10 million if the winner or winners choose a lump sum cash pay-out. If an annuity option is chosen, the 25-annual payments will amount to more than $14 million.
During today's news conference, a reporter asked about the "who-done-it" mystery surrounding this ticket. The lottery's security chief conceded this case has been "unique" and Lottery vice president Mary Neubauer said there's been "overwhelming" interest in this particular ticket.
"Those of us who work at the lottery, if folks know that we work at the lottery, we can barely walk five feet these days without someone asking about this jackpot-winning ticket," Neubauer said. "...Definitely the public is fascinated by this story and wants to know more."
The ticket was turned in at lottery headquarters in Des Moines less than two hours before the jackpot would have expired on December 29, 2011. Shaw, the attorney from New York, has indicated he signed the ticket as a trustee of Hexam Investments Trust.
AUDIO: Listen to the 35-minute news conference (Thurs., Jan. 12, 2012)
Thanks to Starr920 for the tip
I can't help but feel that this "Security Chief" has a little bit of an ego problem.
I'm waiting for him to make the rounds on the talk show circuit and announce he's writing a book about "the case".
In my opinion, the folks in Iowa are bored. No one else laid claim to this ticket and if a lottery employee quits his or her job within the next few days then you've got your culprit.
Bottom line is no one else claimed this ticket, hate to see this money go back to the state
I agree, he needs to step down a notch , Do lottery winners really need to be GRILLED ?
As long as you're not winning, it's all good.
I agree he needs to drop it down a couple of notches. What he really should be doing is to keep watching whats going on around him, instead of counting what could be going through his hands..!
Pay the money! Another government hack with too much time on his hands. Sounds like Bogel has a guilty conscious!
Government IS the problem!
Where are the frinking occupiers when you em???????????????????????????????
OCCUPY the IOWA LOTTERY INQUISITOR BOGLEMADA!
The wrong party is under investigation...it should be Iowa State Lottery. Who wants to play in a state where
they don't want to pay you or try and have someone come up with a reason why you shouldn't be paid what
you won? Bad business Iowa.
Now I wish the ticket would have been claimed with 5 minutes to go
...someone was licking their chops.
They might have just been drooling all over the place with less than 1/2 hour to go.
I say: Pay up!
Not discounting fact Iowa Lotto is playing this in very strange fashion, but something tells me there's a good reason and interesting story is coming up. If not, there's going to be a real sh*tstorm for those state lotto officials.
This has all the makings of a LMN (Lifetime Movie)
Neubauer said. "...Definitely the public is fascinated by this story and wants to know more."
I don't...
I could care less.
Authenticate the ticket, pay the money, and move on.
"Just meeting with Mr. Shaw is not going to be enough for me to give a recommendation...to pay this ticket," Bogle says.
Bogle better get a c4 sniffing dog and have his stuff scanned for flammable dog poop. lol
At this rate aint no telling what disgruntled winners and losers are likely to mail him.
Bogle reminds me of the stupid boyfriend in the original movie, "Day The Earth Stood Still."
"When this is over, I'll be a big hero. You'll see."
Yes. Questions do need to be asked.
There was a scandal two or three years ago where some state's lottery tech employees with top-level system access were able to print duplicate winning tickets and have friends claim the money. The tickets they printed were identical to the winning tickets. These guys were sys admins at the state lottery headquarters, and had access to terminals and printers. They manipulated the system so the tickets they printed were identical to the winning tickets printed out at the stores.
These guys would wait until a ticket with a "minor" prize ($10,000 or even $1,000) was about to expire, then send a friend/relative to collect the winnings. They would then split the money.
So many tickets are never checked -- collecting dust in drawers or even run the the washing machine or accidentally thrown away. Those tickets expire and the money goes back to the state. These guys figured if the tickets had not been presented in almost six months time, they would probably not be presented. They would print an identical ticket and get someone to pretend to be the purchaser. Why let it that money go to waste?
Well, because that's grand larceny and a host of other crimes.
Lottery officials in this state finally figured out something was going on when so many "just in time" tickets started being presented. Arrests were made.
So, with this case, if these people waited SIX MONTHS to collect on a $10 MILLION ticket, then they aren't going to mind waiting just a little longer, are they? The lottery security just wants to make sure everything is legit about this ticket.
____________
The statistics spike that caused that other scandal to be uncovered is also what fingered all those convenience store clerks that stole winning lottery tickets from purchasers. They would tell people they weren't a winner, or had won a few dollars, then try to claim the big prize for themselves. So now when someone connected to a store that sells tickets has a winning ticket, extra questions are asked.
Good example, ChazzMatt, of presidence as a reason for prudence.
That was DC and it was contractors with Pick 3 pick 4 stuff, DC is RNG, they got popped immediately. Hot Lotto is RNG, could be similar situation but it would have to be a setup grift internal theft, maybe someone got BOGLEMADAS bogus ticket that printed out at the wrong terminal?????
And he wants it back before he is found out.
Someone like this guy needs to investigate Their President & Congress. As well as The Wise Latina & The Kagan!
Maybe they're stalling.
Hopefully, they weren't letting Corzine's outfit hold the money before the prize was claimed.
corzine is a crook, and may have been able to hide in the background forever if he did't have poliical ambitions,
his greed told him jersey people are suckers,we are'nt , it blew up in his face,now he's got more problems.
but i doubt he will ever spend a day in jail.
he is too rich.
Also don't forget many cities are now taxing lottery winnings as regular income so they would want to know if they are due any taxes and who's paying it.
I got the Powerball tonite, as long as I don't drop the ticket in my coffee like I did my Mega Millions ticket. Good thing the PA Lottery makes coffee resistant tickets. No need for an investigation either!
And only Federal taxes here in PA !
I once lived in a place that had income taxes at state, county, and city levels.
I'm surprised they didn't build walls to keep people in.
Iowa is basically in trouble they can't even count votes, and are missing 8 precincts from the caucus. Something is wrong in Iowa!! Meth?????????? It will meth you up everytime. Get with it Iowa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Something is definitely up - the lottery officials are too willing to risk media attention.
What the heck is The Wise Latina & The Kagan? And what the heck do they (whatever they are) have to do with the lottery?
"The Iowa Lottery's security chief says it will likely take "several...days" of face-to-face meetings with a New York attorney and others to get all the questions answered about a winning "Hot Lotto" ticket."
It doesn't take several days just to ask if the owner of the trust purchased the ticket, why they waited until the last minute to have the ticket validated, and why was it necessary to use an out of state lawyer to sign for the trust. Logical answers would be the player that purchased the ticket died before having it validated, the ticket was recently discovered, and the trust was formed by the executor who lives out of state.
Barney Fife Steve Bogle needs more evidence than "something smells fishy" to stop payment on the prize.
unfortunately I live in NYC which is one such city. Our neighbor Yonkers is another.
The reference is to the two newest women SCOTUS judges.
Thank you,time*treat.
I couldn't remember exactly where it was, but I do remember it was duplicate tickets printed off lottery computer system and printers. They were wating until the time had almost expired to claim the money, just in case the REAL winner showed up with the REAL ticket. But because of that case, now anyone who shows up very late undergoes extra scrutiny.
For a multi-state prize like Mega Millions or Powerball, pulling off something like that would be harder. They probably have more safeguards in place. But THIS particular ticket is a state lottery ticket. And every state has their own computer system which may have security holes. For a huge prize like this -- $10 million -- some lottery employee/contractor may think they could get away with it -- especially if they use some out-of-state relative/friend and get some law firm involved who swears not to reveal the true owner.
Yes the lottery needs to make sure the claim is legit. Is the owner of the ticket the same man in the store video? If not, then why? How did an New York law firm come into possession of a ticket bought in Iowa?
Again, if it's legitimate the soon to be rich owner(s) do not mind waiting. They waited six months for some reason, while holding the ticket. Waiting a few days more is nothing.
The "several days" is because confirmation is needed. Verification of what the lawyer says. You going to take a lawyer at his word without proof?
And time has proved you wrong. It's already been several days and the lawyer still has not answered the questions. So there. They security chief was right in his prediction this case would at least take several days.
Until the lawyer can show the ticket holder got it legitimately (instead of by theft using hacking of the state lottery computer system, like those other people did) the money is not going to be paid to a potential thief.
If the ticket is legit, then that lawyer better start answering questions and providing some proof. The person or persons in the trust better tell their lawyer to answer the questions. It's one thing to try to protect your privacy... it's another to let $10 million slip through your grasp because you can't/won't show how you came to be in possession of this ticket you waited until less than two hours before the deadline to claim.
If the people in this so-called trust won't identify themselves, and allow the money to go unclaimed, then it was a scam that was averted.
______________
The Iowa Lottery is one of 15 state lotteries that pool resources to offer jackpots starting at $1 million in Hot Lotto, a numbers game similar to Powerball. Since the ticket was purchased in Iowa, the responsibility of investigating the claim and awarding the prize falls to Iowa Lottery officials.
The ticket played two sets of numbers over the next five drawings. The winning numbers hit on the second drawing, Dec. 29, 2010. The ticket was worth $16.5 million at the time.
Shaw sent the ticket by Federal Express to the Davis Brown firm, whose lawyers drove the ticket to Iowa Lottery headquarters on Grand Avenue in Des Moines 1 hour and 10 minutes before the ticket was to expire.
Since then, lottery officials have investigated how the ticket made it from a Des Moines convenience store into the hands of a 76-year-old lawyer living in Bedford, N.Y.
Lottery officials have said they will not award the prize until the person or persons behind the trust are revealed.
Iowa law requires a winner to give his name and address when claiming a prize. The winner does not have to make a public appearance or a public statement, though most have done so.
Lottery security personnel remain curious about why the jackpot went unclaimed for so long, Neubauer said.
Here in Australia its not really anonymous . the ticket has NFP[] (not for publication) on the back where you fill out name and address details. i didnt think it was anonymity was what people wanted it was just not to be famous. as long as the public dont know who you are most woudnt Care if the lotto officials knew or not?
well i always thought that
I also think the lotto people want ot see if the person on the video buying the ticket is still alive
I have to admit I like the idea of lawyers being grilled.
Over low heat preferably.
Lotta salt.
What do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the coldest deepest ocean???
A good beginning.
Darlin', I think they are FILLED with salt already. How about using a meat mallet to soften them up before marinating them in brown sugar?
That'll work!
Exactly.