Dawson, GA mayor, saddled with legal problems, wins lottery ($500,000 in scratch-off game)

Athens Banner-Herald ^ | 8/7/03 | Associated Press

[honeygrl]

DAWSON - A small-town mayor saddled with legal problems has won the largest prize possible - $500,000 - on a Georgia Lottery scratch-off ticket.

Dawson Mayor Robert Albritten, scheduled to go on trial next month on 19 counts of insurance fraud and nine counts of forgery, bought the winning ticket over the weekend.

Albritten has declined to comment on his legal problems and he did not return a call from The Associated Press on Wednesday.

However, lottery officials confirmed Albritten won the largest prize possible in the 10th Anniversary Instant Game. He purchased theticket at the U.S. Food Mart in Sasser, about 10 miles east of Dawson.

Lottery spokesman J.B. Lan-droche said the mayor came to Atlanta on Monday and picked up his winnings.

The odds of winning a prize in the scratch-off game are 1 in 2.63, Landroche said. But the odds of winning $500,000 are 1 in 480,000, he said.

After taxes, Albritten received about $300,000.

Albritten, the first black mayor of this southwest Georgia town, owns Albritten Funeral Service in Dawson.

The charges against him involve allegedly selling life insurance policies to elderly people in an Albany nursing home, many of whom may not have realized what they were purchasing. It is a violation of Georgia law to insure people's lives without their knowledge.

Earlier this year, Albritten pleaded guilty to drunken driving after a wreck that left a woman in the hospital. His recorded blood alcohol level was .167, more than twice the legal limit.

He has been mayor since 1991 and was re-elected over two white challengers last fall despite the drunken driving and fraud charges.

[honeygrl]

Dawson, Ga. Mayor Robert Albritten AP

[Restorer]

I bet they looked at that ticket REAL carefully!

[Clemenza]

I've been to Dawson twice, both time on the way back to Miami (when I was living there) from conferences in Aubrun. From the S. Georgia Parkway, it appealed to my interest in quaint little towns. It disappointed me, when I found myself in a small town version of Bedford Stuyvesant.

[honeygrl]

His photo alone frightens me. The bloodshot eyes and the stone cold look on his face are scary.

[Koblenz]

But the odds of winning $500,000 are 1 in 480,000, he said.

So how does the GA Lottery make money with these odds? Aren't tickets $1? Or are the tickets $2? Because if they cost $1.00 per ticket, and 1 out of every 480,000 tickets wins $500,000, you've got a problem if you're the state Lotto. And this doesn't even count smaller prizes.

[honeygrl]

There are also $5 and $10 scratch off tickets. I am going to have to guess it was one of the more expensive one because the cheap ones have lower jackpots. (of the ones I've seen and bought anyway)

[glorgau]

Actually, he didn't win, his lawyer did.

[honeygrl]

"Actually, he didn't win, his lawyer did. "

lol, I am sure you are right.

[stylin19a]

Insurance Fraud and forgery. The Feds could probably claim, that the lottery ticket was bought with ill-gotten gains and seize the winnings under RICO....after taxes, of course.

[Southack]

So if you were a corrupt lottery official, and one of your buddies was in financial trouble, how would you go about getting him some extra money really fast??