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SACRAMENTO – It’s been four months since a lucky California Lottery player purchased a SuperLotto Plus® jackpot-winning ticket in Barstow, and Lottery officials are still waiting for the owner or owners of that ticket to come forward. The prize is worth $12 million to the big winner – but only for two more months.
The winning ticket was purchased for the April 24 draw at Barstow Station Ice Cream, which located at 1611 East Main Street in Barstow. The lucky retailer received a bonus of one-half percent, or $60,000, for selling the jackpot-winning ticket. The winning numbers are 25, 27, 39, 6, 15 and the Mega number is 17.
The California Lottery would like to remind the winner to sign the back of the ticket, keep the ticket in a safe place and contact Lottery officials or visit their local Lottery District Office as soon as possible. Winners have 180 days from the date of the draw to claim prizes. This ticket expires October 21, 2010. Read the whole story...
Million-dollar lottery winner hid ticket in her bra WINNIPEG -- Alicia Jongstra received her big cheque from Western Canada Lottery Corporation officials at the Delta Hotel in downtown Winnipeg after striking it rich as the sole winner of a $1-million Maxmillions prize in the June 18 draw.
The 24-year-old Winnipegger, who works in a group home with disabled young adults, said she found out she was a millionaire when she stopped for gas at the North Main Co-op on her way to work and checked her ticket.
“I heard the ‘woo-hoo’ and thought I’d won 10 bucks but the lady beside me could see the screen and told me I’d won a million,” Jongstra. “I immediately took the ticket and stuffed it down my bra so nobody could take it away from me.”
Jongstra, who turns 25 next week, said she plans to use her new cash to get laser eye surgery and to build a home in the country near Stony Mountain where she grew up. Read the whole story...
STAMFORD -- If you're going to win a contest called Win For Life, it doesn't hurt to start collecting the winnings before turning 30.
Andre Bryant, 27, recently became the 50th winner in the Connecticut Lottery Corp.'s Win For Life series. Bryant will receive $5,000 a month for the rest of his life, which translates to $3,426 a month after taxes.
"I feel blessed. It really hasn't hit me yet," said Bryant, who lives in Stamford.
Bryant said he went to Richmond Hill Mini Market to purchase lotto tickets before heading to Cut Masters Barbershop, also on Richmond Hill Avenue. He bought three Win For Life and five Mega Money game cards.
"I just happened to go in and get some tickets to see what my luck would bring," said Bryant, who works at Whole Foods in Darien, where he does maintenance.
After scratching off one of the Win for Life tickets, revealing the letters W and I, Bryant said he screamed because he knew he had won.
Diane Patterson, director of communication with Connecticut Lottery Corp. in Rocky Hill, described winning the Win For Life ticket as "a life-altering experience."
"Win For Life is really unique because it's wholly determined by a person's longevity. Most games if you win the top prize, that's it," Patterson said.
Patterson said the Win For Life series paid $500 a week when it started in 1998. Over time, the prize structure for the series has changed. Patterson said the minimum payout for the Win For Life program is $1 million to each winner.
"If someone passes that one million dollars, which isn't to hard to do, we'll continue to make payments," Patterson said.
Bryant said he has plans for what he will do with the money.
"As of right now, I want to save, save, save. Eventually, I'd like to buy a house for my mother and take care of her," Bryant said. Read the full story...
A Vancouver man was sentenced to nine years in prison Monday for running a lottery scam in the United States that defrauded dozens of elderly victims of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Henry Anekwu, 43, was convicted in April of 10 counts of mail fraud and six counts of wire fraud, all of which were centered around a telemarketing operation that told victims they had won a lottery, but needed to pay taxes or other fees up front to claim their winnings. Individual victims paid as much as $60,000 into the scheme, which operated for about five years until 2003. Many of the 79 victims in the scam lost their homes as a result. Read the whole story...
Farmington's April Lopez found Monday evening that her $5 "Crossword Doubler" scratcher was a winning lottery ticket. She bought the ticket at Giant Station No. 4 at 531 E. Broadway, where 11 other winning tickets previously have been sold. She was picking up barbecue goods for her family's dinner that night when she picked up the winning ticket.
"I told her not to get ahead of herself. I didn't want her to get too excited," said her husband Jose Lopez. April said she was jumping and screaming at the news of her winnings and hopped in the car that same night to catch her prize.
"They broke into a big smile, and they were as sweet as can be," said New Mexico Lottery Spokeswoman Linda Hamlin. "I meet winners every single day, and it's amazing that they all have a different story."
The couple's first splurge was on their family's first "real" vacation. They took their three children to Albuquerque this week to tour amusement parks and the city's zoo.
"They were definitely thinking of their children first," Hamlin said.
Afterward, the couple will fly, just the two of them, to Las Vegas. They recently celebrated a wedding anniversary and would like to spend some extra time together. And then they plan on paying off the bills.
Granted, the Lopez family, and other winners, are not the only benefactors of this program. Read the whole story...
DANBURY, Conn. -- Fire officials are investigating the cause of a car fire on the Merritt Parkway that destroyed a rare Audi R8 belonging to a Connecticut Powerball winner.
According to reports, Rahul Patel, of Newington, was driving the car, only a week old, northbound on the parkway around 9 a.m., when he looked up in the rearview mirror and saw smoke.
As the car's engine is in the rear, Patel pulled over to see if there was something wrong with the vehicle. After stepping out of the car, he reportedly saw flames coming out of the engine.
No one was hurt in the incident, but the car was a complete loss. Fire officials said the car is only one of two of its kind in the United States and that the car was valued at $140,000, with options. The list price for the vehicle on the Audi website is $114,000.
Losing such a rare car might be considered bad luck but, almost exactly a year ago, Patel had luck of a different sort when he won a $25 million Powerball jackpot. He won the money on June 29, 2009, from a $1 ticket. Read the whole story...
Another good year for the Georgia Lottery meant more money for the state's pre-kindergarten and HOPE college scholarship programs, but it isn't enough to keep state officials from worrying about HOPE's future.
The Georgia Lottery Corp. announced Wednesday that profits increased again during the 2010 fiscal year — providing a dozen consecutive years of growth.
As a result, the lottery increased its payments to the popular pre-k and HOPE programs. During the 2010 fiscal year, which ended June 30, the lottery transferred about $883.9 million — an increase of about $11.7 million, or 1.4 percent, over the previous year.
"In spite of this gray, darkish economy, we are very grateful that Georgians continue to respond to what we put out there," Georgia Lottery President and CEO Margaret DeFrancisco said in an interview. "We feel very fortunate that we are able to do what we've done."
While the Georgia Lottery is considered one of the most successful in the country, it is unable to keep pace with the rapid growth and cost of the education programs it was created to support.
Lottery revenue didn't generate enough money for HOPE during the 2010 fiscal year, and state officials for the first time in nearly a decade tapped into a $1 billion reserve fund. The reserves are projected to drop to about $373 million by the end of the 2012 fiscal year, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which oversees HOPE.
The commission is scheduled to meet with members from the state House and Senate education committees Aug. 2 to discuss the program's finances and possible changes. Commission leaders have recommended lawmakers amend the program during the next legislative session, warning the program could run out of money if long-term changes aren't made. Read the whole story...
March 6, 2009 (InfoPowa News) -- Recessionary climates can produce extraordinary events, and the U.K. media are currently carrying an interesting report of a 13-member lottery syndicate that struck it lucky ... and decided to use their winnings to ensure their employer's survival, along with their jobs.
The syndicate won £3.9 million on the lottery, but instead of dividing up the prize they decided unanimously to present the cash to company owner Andy Whitaker (44), who has managed to keep the family-run motor repair firm going despite a terrible time for the car industry.
The employees will pledge most of their winnings into the firm ASK Rewinds in Accrington, Lancashire, becoming investors in their own future in the process.
Whitaker, his wife and a fellow director are members of the winning syndicate, and have already pledged to plough their share of the lottery windfall back into the firm to help safeguard the jobs of their 18 workers.
Whitaker told local reporters: "Everybody is obviously really delighted to scoop such a big win but it's also great feeling that a lot of the lads have got the firm so close to their hearts and want to be a part of it. Read the whole story...
Four city workers — who had been polling their money in the office pot for nearly five years under the verbal agreement that they’d all share the winnings — were out of the office and unavailable to contribute to the office pool for a drawing last month that resulted in a $207 million payoff.
The four planitiffs are suing 15 co-workers who are keeping the $207 million Mega Millions lottery winnings all to themselves. Read the whole article...
WATSONVILLE — A man arguing with a store clerk over lottery tickets was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon Tuesday morning after he showed an officer a sword concealed in his trench coat, Watsonville police reported.
Watsonville resident Laurence Roscoe Gregory, 65, was fighting with the clerk because he believed his tickets were winners, when in fact they were not, according to Sgt. Saul Gonzalez. The officer talked with Gregory outside the store, located on the 100 block of East Lake Avenue, around 8 a.m. and explained that Gregory hadn't won.
Then the officer asked Gregory, who was wearing "bulky" clothing, if he had any weapons on him and Gregory revealed the 3- to 4-foot-long sword under his coat. He told the officer the sword was part of his attire, Gonzalez said. Read the whole story...
So, what would they call their new Virginia Lottery scratcher? "Redskins Legacy," naturally, featuring little old-timey helmet logos right at the top. Pretty soon, they can just scrap the games altogether and show old glory-days highlights on the massive new HD screens. Or at last scrap the preseason games. Bet fans wouldn't mind. Read the whole story...
Six lucky numbers turned into a life-changing, eight-figure payout for a pair of Helenans who Thursday discovered their share of a Powerball lotto jackpot will be some $48.5 million.
Kim Claassen, 55, and 23-year-old Joe Lamport Jr. have worked together at North West Home Health Care for several years, and over that time have intermittently purchased lottery tickets together with the understanding that they would split any winnings. Wednesday night, Claassen stopped at the Town Pump on North Montana Avenue, just up the street from the Montana Lottery headquarters, and bought $10 worth of tickets, including what turned out to be the winning combination, for that night's $96.9 million Powerball drawing.
The two are splitting the jackpot with the holder of another winning ticket sold in Ohio. It's the biggest single lotto payout in Montana history, eclipsing a $47 million Lotto America winner sold in Havre in 1991.
Claassen, who also works part time in distribution services for the Independent Record, said she slept just and hour-and-a-half between jobs Thursday morning, and was still in a state of shock Thursday afternoon.
"Mostly I've just got to let it sink in and let it feel real," she said. "It's going to have a huge impact on a lot of people's lives."
At a news event at the convenience store where the winning ticket was sold, Lamport said he wasn't sure what he'd do with his share of the winnings.
"I just want to go fishing," he laughed. "I'm not going to Disney World!"
Claassen very nearly let the winning ticket get away. She said she checked the lottery website Wednesday night, and believing her numbers were not winners, tore the ticket into four pieces and threw it away, and sent Lamport a text message saying, "We're not millionaires yet." Read the full story...
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A group of Michigan auto workers has claimed 1 of 2 winning tickets in last week's $96.9 million Powerball lottery.
The Ohio Lottery says that most of the 14 winners all work together in the paint shop at a Detroit Chrysler plant that makes the Dodge Viper.
The winners claimed their prize Tuesday in Toledo. The lone Ohioan in the group bought the ticket at a carryout just outside Toledo.
All of the others are from the Detroit area.
The lottery says each of the 14 winners will get a lump-sum payment of $1.2 million. Read the whole story...
AUSTIN, Texas — Three major gambling companies entered the competition by Tuesday to run Texas' lottery — a massive operation that could pay $100 million per year to the winning bidder.
Scientific Games Corp., Intralot Inc. and GTECH Corp., which holds the current Texas operations contract, submitted cost proposals for the games, said Texas Lottery Commission spokesman Bobby Heith.
All are prominent companies in the lottery and gambling business worldwide and frequently compete with one another for U.S. state lottery contracts. They've been analyzing the Texas operation for months leading up to Tuesday's bid deadline. Commission officials did not release financial details of their proposals, and the companies would not comment. Technical proposals are due Wednesday.
A decision on the winning bid is expected by late September.
"The evaluation process starts," Heith said. "That's the next step."
The bidding has been tied up in controversy this year because a consulting company the Texas commission hired to help write the bid request had been doing business with GTECH. That led to questions about whether GTECH has an unfair advantage. The commission has canceled its contract with that consultant, Gartner Inc. Read the whole article...
NEW BRITAIN — The damage to the bond of two elderly sisters from a dispute over a $500,000 Powerball jackpot could be measured by how little love was on display in court Tuesday.
Rose Bakaysa, 87, and Theresa Sokaitis, 84, never seemed to lock eyes.
There were no smiles or waves.
Bakaysa referred to her sister as "Mrs. Sokaitis."
But even while testifying against each other, signs of a past sisterhood were evident.
Sokaitis recalled how Bakaysa paid the school tuition of one of Sokaitis' six children and gave her money when her car was repossessed. And when Bakaysa had heart surgery, Sokaitis visited her in the hospital every day.
"I love my sister," Sokaitis told the judge. "There was no reason for us not to be partners."
Superior Court Judge Cynthia K. Swienton told the sisters that their five-year wait to get the court to resolve their dispute could be over in the next few months when the judge would likely make a ruling in the case.
Despite a close relationship that testimony showed spanned nearly seven decades, the two sisters were unable to settle the dispute on their own. Read the whole article...
What a shame. This lucky multi-millionaire is missing out. If he used LottoGopher, this would never happen. Here's the story reported by www.strathspey-herald.co.uk.
TIME - and luck - has run out for the holder of a winning Lottery ticket, which may well have been bought in the strath.
The search for the ticket holder, who had matched all six numbers, has been building in intensity in the past few weeks, with National Lottery players being urged to to check and double check their tickets.
Camelot Group, operator of The National Lottery, has announced that the £3,681,197 prize from the Lotto draw made back on Wednesday, September 23 last year, has remained unclaimed more than 180 days after the draw took place.
All the money, plus the interest it has earned, has now passed over to the Good Causes. The ticket-holder bought their Lotto ticket in the constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey and the deadline for claiming the prize was at 5.30pm on Monday this week.
A National Lottery spokesperson said: "Unfortunately, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward within the deadline to claim their prize and has now sadly missed out on this substantial amount of money. To avoid this unfortunate situation happening again, I would urge all National Lottery players to check their tickets on a regular basis. Read the whole story...
