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GRAND PRAIRIE — State authorities are looking for a Grand Prairie convenience store clerk who allegedly stole a $1 million lottery ticket from a customer. Pankaj Joshi is accused of lying to the 67-year-old customer who presented the ticket, telling him that he only won $2. Then, Joshi allegedly kept the million dollar ticket for himself and cashed it in at lottery headquarters in Austin. Investigators believe Joshi — who had worked at the Lucky Food Store at 902 South Great Southwest Parkway for about five years — may have fled the U.S. to return to his home country of...

Seems like a shame that only the early birds might get to read this thread..as in the replies: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2362878/posts

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A woman being driven around in a rented limousine pulled up at a coat store and announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases, police said, but she ended up causing a riot when customers realized it was a hoax. Angry customers threw merchandise around and looted, leaving the store looking as though a hurricane had passed through it, police said. Linda Brown was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long shopping spree that began when she hired a stretch Hummer limousine to drop her off at a Burlington Coat Factory store, police Sgt. Lt. Michael...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A woman being driven around in a rented limousine pulled up at a coat store and announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases, police said, but she ended up causing a riot when customers realized it was a hoax. Angry customers threw merchandise around and looted, leaving the store looking as though a hurricane had passed through it, police said. Linda Brown was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long shopping spree that began when she hired a stretch Hummer limousine to drop her off at a Burlington Coat Factory store, police Sgt. Lt....

42% of voters agree that people randomly selected from a phone book would do a better job in Congress than the current Congress. It is time to flush the corruption out of Congress. It’s time to vote out the career politicians who are destroying America. It is time to run non political candidates for Congress. Should we take our country back by replacing career politicians in Congress with common citizens? Cast your vote: http://www.CongressionalLotteryPool.com It's time for real change!

Starting at about 0:38, "We want to have four people who donate money this week to sit down and have dinner with me, on me. We'll fly you in, I'll pay for dinner..." I recommend downloading this before it goes under the bus.

Due to the economy and weak real estate market, Miles Brannan is raffling off his luxury home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The raffle is attracting buyers from around the world due to both the appealing price of $10 per ticket and international interest in U.S. real estate. Brannan's raffle is a great deal for foreign investors who want to break into the market because the deed and title will be transferred to the lucky winner free and clear. There will be no need for a jumbo mortgage or creative financing, making the $10 investment an even more attractive offer. "The...

A young woman who won over $3 million in the lottery when she was just 16 says she blew it all on wild shopping sprees, breast implants and cocaine. Rogers, from Cumbria in northwest England, was a shop assistant when she hit the jackpot in 2003. Now 22 and the mother of two young children, she says she has about $32,000 left.

Bought a lotto ticket. It's lucky. I just know. No doubt I'm a winner Soon rolling in the dough. I'll spend, now, on credit And buy a fancy car, Take a nice vacation, Hang with the movie stars. They announce the winner. Expect my lucky break. Someone else's numbers -- There must be a mistake. I didn't win no lotto, man. I didn't win no lotto, man. Forget all retirement plans. No, I didn't win no lotto, man.

(ANSA) - Ficarra, August 3 - This small Sicilian town has decided to take its chances and shoot for the record jackpot of Italy's SuperEnalotto game rather than wait for the state to fill its empty coffers. The jackpot has reached an astronomical 115.9 million euros, its highest ever, and for many weeks has been the biggest prize of any game worldwide. Since the town is out of petty cash, Ficarra Mayor Basilio Ridolfo took 115 euros from the salaries of town council members to bet on a series of numbers which he hopes will include the winning six-number combination...

$896,487 mere months after winning $75,000 on a scratch ticket, a Topeka newspaper says. The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal reported Saturday that Wichita resident Edward Williams followed up his win on a $10 scratch ticket last September by successfully picking all of the winning Super Kansas numbers this week. Williams' lottery win Wednesday came on a $5 Quick Pick ticket he purchased at a local eatery and will result in him receiving a check for nearly $627,541. The lottery win by the former U.S. Marine reset the Super Kansas jackpot to $100,000 as of Saturday.

It was a $500,000 answer to his prayers and it was in his back pocket. And then, suddenly, it wasn't. On his way to a Florida Lottery office Wednesday to claim his half-million-dollar prize, Louis Tolentino, a 69-year-old retiree who lives near Wellington, lost the ticket and any claim to the prize of a lifetime. He says he had it in his pocket when he left for the lottery office. But he had trouble finding the location. He stopped at a convenience store to ask a clerk for directions. Later, he realized the ticket, a Gold Rush scratch-off, was missing....

Canada's Medical Care LotteryThursday, July 16, 2009 So this is what passes as serious commentary on health care reform in the United States of America. It will be news to all of us on this side of the border, but apparently, Canada has a lottery system to "decide who gets to go see a doctor this month." "That's why people are suing." UPDATE - July 18, 2009 In response to some of our commenters, surely you are not confusing a unique episode in Gander, Newfoundland with the ordinary operations, nationwide, of Canada's health care system: In May of this year,...

An MTA worker emerged Tuesday as the winner of a $133 Mega Millions jackpot, going public three weeks after his numbers came in. Aubrey Boyce, 49, of Queens, spent $2 on tickets for the July 7 drawing - and wound up with a lump sum cash payment of $56.7 million after taxes. It's a big pay upgrade for Boyce, who earned a little more than $50,000 a year as an MTA collections agent. The married Boyce said he waited to claim his prize until after the excitement surrounding the drawing calmed down. During the interim, Boyce set up an asset...

New York/Toronto, July 24 (DPA) For Canadian Barry Shell, the $4 million was worth a night in jail. Shell showed up at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp delighted to claim his win earlier this week, only to be pulled aside by detective Kevin Finley and informed he was under arrest. “I hate to wreck your happy dance,” Finley told Shell, according to the Toronto Star Thursday. Shell had several out-standing warrants from 2003 for theft of cameras, global positioning systems, memory cards and watches. His name came up in a routine check of lottery winners, according to the report....

Last week the State Department announced the lucky winners in this year’s Visa Lottery, who will be arriving in communities near you by September, 2010. Fourteen percent of the winners (13,988 people) hail from countries of special interest in the war on terror. Here are the top twelve winning countries: 1. Nigeria 6,006 2. Bangladesh 6,001 3. Ukraine 5,499 4. Ethiopia 5,200 5. Kenya 4,619 6. Egypt 4,201 7. Uzbekistan 4,059 8. Sierra Leone 3,898 9. Cameroon 3,719 10. Morocco 3,124 11. Turkey 2,826 12. Iran 2,773 Approximately one-half of these winners will pursue their application to completion and eventually...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Ginger Whittaker Bragg, daughter of Powerball winner Jack Whittaker, was found dead in her Daniels home, authorities said. Chief Deputy D.E. Stafford of the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department said in a press release that deputies were called to Bragg's Lake Drive home in the Glade Springs Resort Sunday afternoon after receiving a report of a dead person in the home. Deputies said Bragg, 42, died inside her home. Stafford said the department does not suspect foul play but is investigating. Bragg's father won a $314 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day 2002, then the largest amount ever...

SANTA CRUZ, California — A man who works three jobs to support his family — including one as a limousine driver — has won a $39 million jackpot in California's SuperLotto Plus. Clyde Persley, who is married with a 4-year-old daughter, turned in his winning ticket on Tuesday night and should get his first check for about $16 million in four to six weeks, said a California lottery spokeswoman. The 49-year-old Santa Cruz man operates candy-making machines for Santa Cruz Nutritionals, drives a limousine and picks up extra hours at a restaurant. -snip-

LONDON (Reuters) - A 74-year-old amateur gardener who scooped a 25 million pound lottery prize said Tuesday he would spend part of his winnings hiring an expert to learn how to grow better carrots. Brian Caswell said he had always struggled with the vegetable on the prize-winning allotment he maintains with his Joan, 71, in Halliwell, near Bolton. "I've been trying to grow carrots ever since I've been on that allotment and I've never had any success," he told reporters at a televised briefing.

PIERRE, S.D. -- A 23-year-old rancher whose family has fallen behind in their taxes and recently had a mobile home repossessed has claimed a $232.1 million Powerball jackpot on Friday, one of the largest undivided jackpots in U.S. lottery history.

The winner of the world's biggest lottery jackpot in last week's £110million EuroMillions draw did not find out for three days because she was ill with flu. The 25-year-old from Majorca discovered her massive win on Monday after she returned to work. She was still feeling ill but feared losing her job in the economic crisis gripping Spain. The woman, who has not been named, was eventually contacted by Jose Mieres, director of the website through which she bought her ticket. Enlarge Big EuroMillions draw was scooped on Friday - this is what £100m looks like He said: 'When she...

When Joe Denette realizes that he's won more than $75 million with the Virginia Lottery, it's not Disney World he's thinking about. Instead he puts the ticket away and comes to Richmond International Raceway to see the NASCAR race. The Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto presented Denette with his check for his winnings and says, "He had actually won those tickets a few days before so Joe, apparently you were on a lucky winning streak." Joe Denette is on a winning streak now, but earlier this year, he lost his job. He says, "It couldn't have come at a...

WASHINGTON - The attorney for an 82-year-old southeast Washington man has claimed the $144 million Powerball lottery jackpot for his client. David Wilmot, the attorney, said Monday he was accepting the money on behalf of Rockson LLC - a corporation created to protect the man's identity. The winning ticket in the April 8 drawing came from the Giant grocery store on Alabama Avenue in southeast D.C. The jackpot winner is a widower with 10 children and 47 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Wilmot says the man is taking the lump-sum payment of $79.6 million. -snip-

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Some of the same people who sell North Carolina Education Lottery tickets are also winning -- and winning big -- $100,000, $300,000 and almost $500,000 prizes. And some are winning significant jackpots repeatedly -- dozens of times a year. Is it just dumb luck? Or do these insiders have some kind of inside track? And what is the state doing about it? A regular lottery player first brought the pattern of retailers winning the lottery to the attention of the NewsChannel 36 I-Team. Since then the I-Team has pored over thousands of records of lottery winnings in...

See the warning the N.Y. lottery issued These were dispensed during Dateline's probe into shady clerk practice

"It's my duty to enforce the law," Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed sanctimoniously when he announced his intention to investigate Bush administration lawyers whose advice might have led to coercive interrogations of terror suspects. He is quite correct that a country's laws must apply to all: high and low, Republican or Democrat, nobody can be exempt or the law will lose all respect. We are therefore confident that Mr. Holder's proposal to investigate the Bush officials is not a partisan witch hunt or a Stalinist purge of a previous regime, and that Mr. Holder will be equally diligent in investigating...

The California State lottery is apparently in the purview of the state's employees union, the Service Employees International Union. At least it is as far as the SEIU is concerned. Proving once again that unions think everything in the world is their business, the California SEIU has donated $300,000 to Proposition 1C, a ridiculous plan that would empower the state capitol at Sacramento to "borrow" up to $5 billion from state lottery coffers. Yes, I agree with you that the lottery should have nothing at all to do with an employees union. But if it means absconding with more money...

Lottery boss gave 100 tickets to state trooper, report says Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:12 PM By James Nash THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Read the report * Click here to read the full report from the Ohio Inspector General's Office (PDF). The head of the Ohio Lottery improperly gave 100 lottery tickets to a state trooper who pulled him over near Mansfield, the state watchdog said today. The Ohio Inspector General's office faulted Michael A. Dolan, executive director of the Ohio Lottery, for giving the trooper 100 promotional lottery tickets after he was pulled over in January and not cited. Dolan,...

N.C. governor uses money from savings reserve for billsThe Associated Press March 11, 2009 BY GARY D. ROBERTSON RALEIGH - Gov. Bev Perdue took nearly $800 million in North Carolina's rainy-day reserve fund Wednesday to ensure the state has enough money to pay its bills, a move that divided legislative leaders over whether she can spend it. Perdue said she seized the savings reserve fund assembled by lawmakers as a "precautionary measure" to combat one of the sharpest declines in overall tax collections in recent state history. The governor said she would use $250 million of the $787 million immediately...

During her campaign for governor, Beverly Perdue often said she wanted take extra steps to ensure profits from the North Carolina Education Lottery were spent solely on education. She was worried lawmakers might tap the ready source of cash for something else. And less than two months in office, faced with a brutal economy that's sapping the state of revenue, both lottery critics and allies say she's become the prime example of her own fears. Perdue said last week she would use $87.6 million in lottery profits to ensure there's money available in the state's day-to-day operating accounts to pay...

Someone gets to sleep in Wednesday. New Jersey Lottery spokesman Dominick DeMarco says the one winning ticket in Tuesday's Mega Millions $212 million drawing was sold in Ocean County, New Jersey. DeMarco can't yet say where it was purchased. The person who holds it stands to earn about $8.1 million a year, before taxes, for the next 26 years as an annuity.

Indianapolis - A Hoosier Lottery winner's misfortune turned into a stroke of good luck for hundreds of bargain hunters. Faster auctioneers can set a price, merchandise is moving. From rugs to dishes to antique furniture, hundreds hoped to get their hands on a warehouse full of bargains. "It's actually $45. It retails for $600," said Steven Phan. "We've bought china cabinets, tables, lots of stuff," said Lisa Burton. The eclectic collection was up for sale to the highest bidder, but whose stuff is it anyway? "I know it was something to do with a lottery winner," said Joanie Schultz. "She...

Regardless of when a new budget deal gets passed, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still is going to need help from California's voters to close the state's $42 billion budget gap, and that help may not be easy to come by. Although the Legislature spent the weekend in nearly continuous session, trying to find the votes to pass the new fiscal plan, legislators still face the prospect of putting billions of dollars in borrowing, revenue shifts and budget revisions on the ballot in a statewide special election later this year. "Several key components of the budget agreements need to go back to...

Abstract: This paper addresses whether receiving large cash prizes of up to $150,000 reduces bankruptcy. While one might hope that additional resources help individuals avert bankruptcy, there are reasons why this may not be the case. For example, if recipients have high discount rates, engage in mental accounting, become accustomed to a more expensive lifestyle, or consciously consume the winnings in the expectation that they will later file for bankruptcy anyway, then receipt of large lump sums may not reduce future bankruptcy filings. To address this question, we exploit a unique dataset of Florida lottery winners from 1993-2002 linked to...

Are the investment managers at the New York Lottery way behind the last curve or way ahead of the next one? The state lottery system is considering taking a page from the pension fund playbook and moving its $1.3 billion prize fund out of the safe haven of U.S. Treasuries and into stocks, bonds, real estate, and hedge funds, according to Bloomberg. It hopes to double its annual return to 8 percent and help replenish the empty coffers of the New York state budget. Either they think it's still 2004 or there's something they know about 2012 that the rest...

New York tells woman $5 million winning lottery ticket is a 'printing error.' How would you like to win $5 million, then be denied from collecting your prize? I think the state of New your should have to honor this ticket. Instead, they offered to give her the $20 back that she paid for the ticket. Watch video here The Intellectual Redneck

A few days ago, Maria Murray was counting the pennies and deciding that Christmas had to be cancelled. She warned her four children that she could not afford to buy them presents. They would probably not have been impressed to learn, therefore, that she had spent her last £5 on a lottery scratchcard at the local newsagent's. But she was firmly back in favour with her family yesterday after the card turned out to be worth a £1million jackpot. 'It was my last £5,' she said. 'It hasn't really sunk in that I've won - I don't know what I'll...

Thirteen people face charges after allegedly telling Fresno Lotto winners that they were losers, and then keeping the winnings for themselves. Undercover officers posing as customers turned in winning lottery tickets worth about $1,000.00 apiece at several Fresno convenience stores.

INDIANAPOLIS – Talk about a gift that keeps on giving! Not only did Lawrence and Terri Ragland of Georgetown win $2 million on a Scratch-off ticket, they won the top prize on a ticket Lawrence Ragland received as a Christmas gift - and then re-gifted the unscratched ticket to his wife for her birthday Jan. 1!

We will say up front that Obama’s actions subsequent to his election have been far less radical than we would have predicted (given the content of Dreams From My Father and Obama’s membership in a racist church). If, despite the very poor first impression he gave us during the campaign, he does a good job, we will acknowledge that he has exceeded our expectations. Obama must realize in turn, however, that fundraising through rigged online lotteries (this one is legal because it provides a way to enter without making a donation) undermines his credibility and reinforces negative expectations. This is...

A woman in Connecticut who checked her husband's lottery tickets weeks after his death has discovered he had won a $10 million (£6.9 million) jackpot. Donald Peters, 79, bought two tickets hours before his death from a heart attack on November 1 at a 7-Eleven grocery shop in the town of Danbury. But after the retired hat factory worker's death his wife, Charlotte, checked through his things and took the slips to the shop to check. On Friday she cashed in one of the tickets. "I'm numb," the 78-year-old said at the Connecticut Lottery headquarters. The tickets had been bought...

DANBURY, Conn. — On the day that Donald Peters died, he unknowingly provided financial security for his wife of 59 years and their family. Peters bought two Connecticut Lottery tickets at a local 7-Eleven store on Nov. 1 as part of a 20-year tradition he shared with his wife Charlotte. Later that day, the 79-year-old retired hat factory worker suffered a fatal heart attack while working in his yard in Danbury. -snip-

TROY — Four Piqua residents are suing their city co-workers who won the $207 million Mega Millions lottery earlier this month, claiming the winners didn't keep their word about sharing any winnings with all regular players. And they want $41 million. A lawsuit claiming breach of contract and conversion was filed Tuesday, Dec. 23, in Miami County Common Pleas Court by Doug Harter, Israel Carnes, Tammy K. Wright and Jon Litchfield, all of Piqua. Named as defendants are winners: Kenny Kirby, John Dembski, Richard Donnelly, James Montgomery, Cynthia Hershberger, Ritchie Williams, Scott Bradley, Dennis Steinke, Loyal Davis Jr., Rodney Stephenson,...

I'm a NYer. The Evil Conservative has lived here for more than 20 years and, despite the liberal politics, traffic, high taxes, and extremely high cost of living, every now and again I get a public reason to be proud of being one. Usually that happens when I'm traveling and someone starts to knock NY. That probably stirs the pride in anyone from anywhere. But as a NYer you get used to hearing about how awful your hometown is. I'm referring to the Queens supermarket clerk who returned a discarded $1 million lottery ticket to a 92 year old grandmother....

A 92-year-old great-grandmother from Queens accidentally discarded a winning $1 million scratch-off lottery ticket - but a scrupulous supermarket clerk saved the day. -snip The Far Rockaway woman scratched them, thought they were losers and asked the clerk to toss them.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers may be banking long-term budget strategies on a revamped state lottery producing enhanced revenues. But for now, sales from the existing California Lottery are sputtering compared to a year ago, the state lottery commission learned this week. Lottery ticket sales, including Super Lotto Plus, Mega Millions, Fantasy 5 and scratcher games, dropped by 10 percent during the first four months of the fiscal year beginning July 1. The $985 million in ticket sales represented a $105 million drop in sales compared with the same period last year. Lottery officials blamed the economic downturn for...

Coincidences happen. If there is a FReeper mathematician, please find the odds for the exact three numbers, that particular day, and that particular state.

Just thought this sort of interesting. Check out the evening pick three numbers on 11-05-2008, the day after an Illinois resident was elected president of U.S.A. Weird huh?

On his radio program, just a few moments ago, Mike Gallagher pointed out that in the great State of Illinois, the day after Senator Barack Obama became President-elect Barack Obama, the official pick-three lottery numbers were - no kidding - 6-6-6. Here’s the link. I am not superstitious, and I don’t interpret the triple-six result as any sort of indication that the anti-Christ has arrived and will soon be occupying the White House. I just found it funny. And worth mentioning.

Do any attorneys want to weigh in on this question? The Obama campaign has already been warned by law enforcement agencies against running "Backstage with Barack" and "Dinner with Barack" lotteries in Minnesota and possibly Colorado. Minnesota's Department of Public Safety counseled Obama for America to provide a means of entering to win a chance to meet Barack Obama without making a donation, which would remove the "payment of consideration" element that makes the scheme an illegal lottery. The Obama campaign agreed to do so, but it apparently broke this promise as of October 31 2008. We are not attorneys...