He Won $5,000 a Month for Life!

It may not sound like a ton, but I would certainly take an extra $60,000 a year. This man won $5,000 per month for the rest of his life, an he's only 27. He won the lottery prize on the Connecticut Lottery "Win for Life" scratch card series. Here's the story from the Stamford Advocate.

Stamford man a lifetime lottery winner

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 Lucky Mistake Results in $250,000 Mega Millions Lottery Win

he misprinted a man's ticket and decided to just buy the misprint for herself. Turns out - she made the right decision. This lucky market employee cashed in a $250,000 Mega Millions winning lottery ticket as a result. Here's the story from Online Casino Reports.

Accidental Lottery Winner

A recent mistake made by a store clerk in Lexington, Ohio, USA, bagged her a Mega Millions lottery prize of $250,000.

Naomi Mauller, aged 51, who works at the “Woolfe’s Huff and Puff” mini mart made the error when she was printing a local customer’s Mega Millions lottery ticket. He asked for a Kicker added to his game, but she forgot to include it. She printed him another ticket with the same numbers and the Kicker, and then bought the unwanted ticket for herself. When the lottery draw was made, Naomi and the customer scooped a quarter of a million dollars each!
A Lucky Mistake

“You can’t cancel the Mega Millions ticket.” Naomi explained, “So I thought, what the heck, I’ll buy it. That was a mistake I’ll never forget.”

Well, mistake it may have been but she’s certainly the richer for it. She realized she’d won only thanks to her boss, who called her at home to ask if she knew anything about two tickets with identical numbers which had come up trumps on the lottery draw. When she checked her numbers - 12, 17, 21, 23 and 30 - she realized she was a winner. Read the whole story...

Canadian Lottery Scam Artist Jailed for 9 Years

Watch out for the scam artists. They are espeically targeting the elderly. They tell folks they won large lottery jackpots and that they have to pay certain fees before collecting their lottery prize. This lottery scam artist was ripping off folks in the US while operating out of Canada. He's been put away for 9 years. Here's the story as reported by The Lottery Post.

Canadian gets 9 years for U.S. lottery scam

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...

Sneaky Fiery $500s Scratch Off Tickets in Michigan

I think this lottery game is a bit deceptive to the player. To win the $500 lottery prize you have to scratch off a red 500 wish no "$" symbol. There have been a few accounts of lottery players scratching and revealing a red "$500" and thinking they won. But to no avail, that is not a winner. This guys was deceived as reported by mlive.com

Is the Michigan Lottery 'deceptive'?

DURAND, Michigan — Don Bridges received a fiery $500 lottery ticket last week, scratched if off and found a red $500.

“Get a Red ‘500’, win $500 automatically!” the lottery ticket read.

But what a difference a dollar sign makes.

Bridges, 80, and his wife, Adeline, 67, tried to cash the ticket in with a local retailer only to be told they did not have a winning ticket.

To automatically win $500, a winning Fiery $500s ticket comes with a red “500” without the dollar sign symbol, said Michigan Lottery Director of Public Relations Andi Brancato.

The tickets — which went on sale June 21 — did not have any misprints and its rules are “quite clear,” she said. Read the whole article...

She Bought her Lucky Ticket from the Luck Store

This story is nice because this nice couple won a $50,000 lottery prize on a $5 scratch ticket and got to go on their first real vacation. What I think is crazy is the same store has sold winning lottery tickets 11 times. If I'm ever in Farmington, NM that's where I'm picking up my tickets. I may even buy one of those awesome Kiss scratch tickets they have. Here's the story as reported by the Farmington, New Mexico Daily Times.

Farmington lottery winner goes on first 'real' vacation

FARMINGTON — The best five dollar bill is one that turns into a $50,000 bill.

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...