Well, ping pong balls and rotating cages it ain’t: The former lottery security official convicted of trying to rig the system to pick winning numbers is now facing up to 25 years in prison for the scheme. [More]
lottery
Keno Players Say They Are Owed $2M, Even If They Won Because Of Computer Glitch
By 11.29.16
If you win a $1 million Keno game twice within a matter of minutes, you may be the luckiest person on Earth. Or you could also be trying to take advantage of a computer glitch. [More]
Woman Buys Lottery Ticket To Prove It’s A Waste Of Money, Wins $1M
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
A woman looking for tell her husband “I told you so” amid a disagreement over whether or not lotteries are a waste of money was denied that moment recently — but she’s probably fine with it, considering she won $1 million in her effort to prove her point. [More]
Man Sues California Lottery Claiming Officials “Destroyed” Evidence Of His Winning $63M Ticket
By 2.4.16
While California Lottery officials are urging the winner of the $63 million jackpot to come forward, one man said he tried to do just that, but instead, officials took his winning ticket and destroyed it. [More]
Authorities Looking Into Just How Many State Jackpots May Have Been Fixed By Former Lottery Worker
By 12.18.15
Remember the ex-lottery worker from Iowa who was convicted of rigging a state jackpot so he’d win $14 million? Authorities aren’t quite sure his insider scheme was limited to his home state, and have expanded the investigation into other parts of the U.S. [More]
Man Scores $1K Lottery Prize, Immediately Buys More Tickets And Wins $10M
By 12.2.15
If you suddenly find yourself with $1,000 more than you had a few seconds ago, would you hold on tight to that newfound reward, or use some of it to try to gain even more lottery glory? A California man let it ride, buying more lottery tickets with his winnings, and his gamble paid off, to the tune of $10 million. [More]
Woman Wins $1M Twice With Scratch-off Tickets Purchased From Same Store, 19 Years Apart
By 11.18.15
Some people are lucky enough to win a million dollars in their lifetime, and others are freakishly fortunate enough to win that much money twice: a Massachusetts woman pulled off quite a feat recently by winning the $1 million prize on a scratch-off ticket, 19 years after her first $1 million win. [More]
Clerk Sells Wrong Lottery Ticket, Customer Wins $381K In Powerball
By 10.29.15
Many years ago, I had a job that included selling lottery tickets. Sometimes I’d make a mistake, maybe printing out a quick-pick when the customer wanted to dictate numbers to me, or printing off a Win 4 ticket instead of a Take Five. “That’s okay,” some customers would say. “Maybe it was a lucky mistake. I’ll buy that one.” This never translated to big payouts for my customers, but won a convenience store customer in California $380,774. [More]
Illinois Lottery Officials Halting Payouts Of More Than $600 While State Resolves Budget Issues
By 10.15.15
If you’re holding a winning Illinois lottery ticket, congratulations! But if your reward is more than $600, congratulations! You’ll still get that money, eventually, but first, the state has sort out some pesky budget issues. [More]
Michigan Woman Goes Through Pile Of Old Mail, Finds Lottery Ticket Worth $1M
By 9.23.15
We know how it gets — the mail piles up, it’s filled with credit card offers, promotional post cards and other junk you’d rather avoid. But it’s worth taking a look through that stack of unwanted flotsam and jetsam once in awhile, as one Michigan woman who is now $1 million richer found out recently, after spotting a winning lottery ticket in her mail pile. [More]
Illinois Can’t Pay Its Lottery Winners Right Now
By 8.31.15
Current lottery winners in Illinois might have to delay their joyful reactions for a little while. The state hasn’t passed a new budget, which means that they’re unable to pay lottery winners whose prizes are $25,000 or more. That’s a total of 29 lottery winners still waiting for their money since the current fiscal year started on July 1st. [More]
Guy Buys Lottery Ticket With $20 He Found On The Street, Wins $1 Million
By 8.31.15
Here’s yet another story that’ll make you want to go out and buy a lottery ticket, even though let’s face it, this kind of thing will likely never happen to us: A guy who found $20 on the street and used it to buy a lottery ticket has won $1 million as a result of his lucky break. [More]
Guy Who Chucked Winning Lottery Tickets Saved From Eternal Regret By Convenience Store Worker
By 8.5.15
We’ve all had that moment: something you need is suddenly missing — a receipt, a paycheck, your kid’s birth certificate — and a horrible thought strikes you — “Did I throw it out?!?” A Georgia man had the weight of certain lifelong regret sitting on his shoulders when he realized he’d chucked two lottery tickets worth $10,000, thinking they weren’t winners. [More]
Ex-Lottery Worker Convicted Of Rigging The System So He’d Win $14M Jackpot
By 7.20.15
There’s a very obvious reason why lottery employees aren’t allowed to play for prizes like the rest of the country in many states, as they could have an obvious advantage when it comes to figuring out how to reap big rewards. As such, one ex-lottery worker from Iowa (where it’s illegal for lotto employees to play) has been convicted of rigging the system, fixing it so he could buy the right numbers and win a $14 million jackpot. [More]
New Jersey Legislation Would Create Student Loan Lottery To Let You Gamble Away Your Debt
By 7.8.15
While lottery proceeds may do an awful lot of good for state coffers, the odds of winning are microscopically small, and anyone who has lived in a poverty-stricken neighborhood has likely seen people who can’t afford to lose any money throwing away what little they have on a nose hair’s chance that they might win something. So why not apply that same model to the $1 trillion student loan debt problem? [More]
It’s Getting Harder To Win The Powerball Jackpot — But Smaller Rewards May Be Within Reach
By 7.7.15
If you’ve been basing your lottery dreams on the same Powerball odds that have been in place, you better prepare for an adjustment in your sleep-time calculations: The folks behind the curtain are changing the rules, making it tougher to win the Powerball jackpot. [More]
Last-Minute Father’s Day Gift Of Scratch-Off Ticket Reaps $1 Million Payout
By 6.25.15
While it might seem like picking up Pop a lottery ticket for Father’s Day is the kind of thing you do last-minute, well, it might be. But even last-minute selections can reap big rewards: A dad in Pennsylvania received $1 million in a Father’s Day card from his daughter, after her gift of a scratch-off ticket turned out to be a winner. [More]
Guy Fails To Check Powerball Ticket, Spends Six Weeks Clueless To The Fact That He’s A Millionaire
By 6.4.15
There are some problems we all wish we could have, and finding out you’ve been needlessly spending your days as a normal person only to learn you’re actually a millionaire is certainly one of them. A New York man thought the Powerball winner had already been found, when in fact, he had the winning ticket worth $136 million tacked up in his basement behind a pipe for six weeks. [More]
