Florida Woman is out $5,000 in Lottery Scam

This poor trusting woman was approached by a pregnant woman and her friend claiming they had a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket that they could not cash. They told the woman that if she gave them $5,000 they would find someone to cash it and give her $30,000 in return. Instead of the money she got newspapers and rocks. Although I don't think the victim was smart in trusting strangers, I still feel badly that she got swindled out of $5,000. Here's the story reported by WFTV.

Victim Scammed Of $5K By Pregnant Woman

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando police told WFTV they're seeing new cases of one of the oldest tricks in the book: lottery scams. WFTV talked to one victim who said she was swindled by a pregnant woman.

"I feel ashamed of myself, I’m sorry," victim Genoveva Rosario said.

Genoveva Rosario lost $5,000 to a lottery scam. She was shopping at K-mart Wednesday when a pregnant woman and her friend approached her saying they had a winning Mega Millions ticket but couldn't cash it because they were illegal.

"I tried to help them, they asked me for help, especially the pregnant one," Rosario said.

The women told Rosairo if she gave them $5,000, they would pay someone to cash the ticket. They would split the winnings and give her $30,000. They convinced her to go to her bank and withdraw the cash.

The suspects told Rosairo to meet them at a shopping plaza so she could sign some papers,but when she got there she realized something wasn't right and asked for her money back. Instead, she got paper and rocks. The thieves put rocks and newspaper in the shape of money in a Fed Ex bag and took off.

“Why did you take them to your bank and take that money out?” WFTV reporter Vanessa Welch asked Rosario.

"It's stupid, stupid. I don’t trust my instincts, just stupid," she answered. Read the full story...

$48.5m Winning Powerball Ticket Ripped Up!

A pair of co-workers and friends in Montana have been purchasing lottery tickets together for a few years. After purchasing 1 or 2 $96.9m Powerball jackpot winning lottery tickets she checked the website for the winning numbers and ripped the ticket into four thinking she didn't win. But she checked the winning website before it was updated, the next day when she heard that the tickets were purchased at the same pub, she went back and found her winning Powerball ticket in four. The pair got to claim their lottery jackpot, turning into a story with a great ending. Here it is reported by The Lottery Post.

After ripping up lottery ticket, Montana pair claim $48.5M share of Powerball jackpot

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...

Detroit Chrysler Plant Lottery Pool Wins $96.9m Powerball Jackpot

The lottery group of 14 from the Detroit based Chrysler plant whom make Dodge Vipers for a living are taking home $1,200,000 each. The only Ohioan purchased their pool's lucky Powerball ticket from a shop just outside Toledo, OH. Here's the story reported by WFMJ.

Michigan auto workers claim Powerball jackpot

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...

3 Companies Bid on Texas Lottery

Big profits are in order for which ever company wins competition to run Texas' state lottery. Here's the article from the associated press.

3 big companies bid to run lucrative Texas Lottery

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...

$250,000 Mega Millions Ticket Expires

It may not be a multi-million dollar Mega Millions Jackpot, but who couldn't use an extra quarter mil? With LottoGopher we check your numbers for you, so you'll never miss that prize! But at least the money goes to a good cause. Here's the story reported by WTVR.

UPDATE: $250,000 Mega Millions Ticket Expires

Winning Ticket Bought in October is now worthless.

A winning Mega Millions ticket worth $250,000 has expired. The deadline to redeem the ticket was 5:00 p.m. Monday. CBS 6 contacted the Virginia Lottery as soon as the deadline passed, and we were told no ticket holder came forward.

The unclaimed cash will now go to the state literary fund.

Original Story:

Whoever bought a Mega Millions ticket in Chesterfield County won a quarter of a million dollars and may not even know it.

The Virginia Lottery says a $250,000 winner was purchased October 13th, but the winner still hasn't come forward. If the ticket isn't redeemed by Monday at 5pm, it will expire.

The Lottery says it was bought at the Chevron Corner Mart on Ironbridge Road across from the county courthouse.

The winning numbers were 17-31-34-45-51 and the mega ball was 24. Read the whole story...