Free Republic

Florida man claims he only has a shred of evidence that he won the lotteryA Florida man's story to get his hands on $14.5 million in lottery winnings has been shredded. Chris Gooden, 31, had claimed that he put a winning lottery ticket in the shredder by mistake last month and that he literally only had shreds of evidence that he was the true winner of the Sept. 22 Florida Lottery drawing. The story seemed like a tragedy until the real winner, a 70-year-old retiree, came forward with the winning ticket. Jean Land turned in her ticket to get her...

From a ruined family life to a $13 million Florida Lottery jackpot to abject poverty and ultimately federal prison, Rhoda Toth's life has more chapters than "War and Peace." The final chapter, she said this week, fresh out of a halfway house and now on her own, is a long way off. She's hoping for a Disney ending. Her Lotto saga began on a rainy night in May 1990 when she was sitting around with her second husband, Alex. They had $27.20 to their name, but he decided to drive to the Circle K on Trouble Creek Road in New...

She's been homeless, bankrupt, a robbery victim and assaulted on the job -- but radiant Rikers Island guard Garina Fearon now has 54 million glorious reasons to start living la dolce vita. The 34-year-old single mom from East New York, Brooklyn, who has endured a lifetime of hardship and poverty, told The Post she's the mystery winner of last Friday's Mega Millions drawing. "I wanted a better life. I was struggling as a single parent," a beaming Fearon said yesterday. "I've really come back from nothing." She never imagined such joy was possible when she was down to her last...

Clerk Salem Al Saidi, of the Dynasty Deli and Grocery in Jamaica, told investigators that the missing Lotto ticket was an accident. Lanzilote for News The deli clerk who tried to swindle a grandfather out of a $14 million lottery ticket was the shopowner's son - and he claims it was all a mistake, a source familiar with the case said Saturday. "'It was just an accident! It was just an accident!'" clerk Salem Al Saidi, 18, told investigators, according to the source. Milledge McCassell, 72, handed his ticket to the clerk Aug. 25 after a self-scan machine at the...

On Aug. 25, McCassell visited the Ideal Stop, Dairy and Grill in Laurelton, where the ex-signalman paid $2 to buy four randomly generated “Quick Pick” Lotto tickets for that night’s drawing. ‘He’s our best customer,” said store owner Hussein Mused. “He’s always in here buying breakfast. He likes to buy the $1 and $2 Lotto.” The next day — unaware that six numbers on one of his tickets had hit for the $14 million first-prize jackpot — McCassell went to another lottery vendor, Dynasty Deli and Grocery on Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica. There, McCassell himself checked the tickets on an...

NEW YORK — A retired New York transit worker is a big winner, but it took some detective work to find out just how big. $14 million, it turns out. The New York Lottery on Friday revealed the tale of Milledge McCassell, 72, of Laurelton, in hope of delivering a moral to the story. McCassell on Aug. 26 took unsigned tickets he bought a day earlier to the Dynasty Deli and Grocery in Jamaica, Queens, to check for possible prizes. He checked them himself on a store scanner, which for one ticket flashed "Big Winner." “I knew it was a...

A VEGETABLE farmer who lived a life of luxury after winning almost RM1mil in a lottery five years ago torched himself when his “pot of gold” became empty. The 63-year-old from Serian, Sarawak, known only as Khoo, was reported to have dug a “grave” at the back of his house before splashing petrol on his body and lighting it, reported Berita Minggu. The man had won more than RM750,000 five years ago and then reportedly spent up to RM1,800 on a single bet over the years, hoping to strike it big again, the weekly said. Serian OCPD Deputy Supt Jamali...

BISHOP, Texas — The odds that Joan Ginther would hit four Texas Lottery jackpots for a combined nearly $21 million are astronomical. Mathematicians say the chances are as slim as 1 in 18 septillion — that's 18 and 24 zeros. Just as unlikely? Getting to know one of the luckiest women in the world. "She wants her privacy," friend Cris Carmona said. On a $50 scratch-off ticket bought in this rural farming community, Ginther won $10 million last month in her biggest windfall yet. But it was the fourth winning ticket in Texas for the 63-year-old former college professor since...

Nobody can scratch better than Las Vegas resident Joan Ginther, who has just scrapped that little gray fuzz off of her fourth winning lottery ticket. Her fourth win! The two questions on everybody’s mind are: How do I hit Ginther up for a loan? and How do I work her magic? I don’t have a sure answer for the first, other than to say that, she being female, flattery rarely fails; but I can tell you all about the chances of duplicating her performance. First, her achievements, according to the (as it is sometimes miscalled) Corpus Crispi Caller and Yahoo...

So sad he died so young. But then I guess a man like Paul Bristow would see things from a different angle – thinking he was incredibly lucky to be able to use his good fortune to help others. Thank God for people like Paul and Thea Bristow…

Woman sues after 'winning' $500,000 scratch-off ticket is called misprintBy Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel May 20, 2010 An Ocala woman wants a jury to decide if the Florida Lottery was wrong to dismiss her winning ticket as a misprint. Ann Marie Curcio claims the Lottery is in breach of its contract with buyers because it will not pay $500,000 she says she is owed for her winning Gold Rush ticket. "We don't believe that there is a sufficient excuse for the Lottery not to pay it. . . . There are no disclaimers on the ticket," said Larry Walters,...

There are many ways to pay off campaign debts — cajoling phone calls, begging letters — but Bill Clinton believes that he has come up with a better method to wipe out the financial obligations outstanding from his wife’s failed presidential bid. He is raffling himself. In an e-mail sent to millions of people who supported Hillary Clinton’s White House campaign, the former President asks: “How would you like the chance to come up to New York and spend the day with me?” For those who would like the One-Day-With-Bill prize, an online donation of as little as $5 (£3)...

Bill Clinton offers himself as lottery prize to pay off Hillary's debts...(Times UK)... in an email sent to millions of people who supported Hillary Clinton's White House campaign, the former President asks: "How would you like the chance to come up to New York and spend the day with me?"...

The family that gambles together stays together, in court NEW HAVEN, Conn. – An 87-year-old Connecticut woman doesn't have to split her share of a $500,000 lottery jackpot with the 84-year-old sister she hasn't spoken to since they began fighting over the windfall in 2005, a judge ruled Wednesday. Rose Bakaysa and Theresa Sokaitis stopped speaking shortly after Bakaysa refused to give Sokaitis any winnings from the Powerball jackpot, split by Bakaysa and their brother, Joseph Troy Sr. A judge ruled Wednesday that Bakaysa can keep her share. "There is something in this tragedy that touches most people," New Britain...

Some folks have all the luck. Just two years after her wealthy businessman brother won $1 million a year for life in the lottery, Manhattan party planner Cindy Altunis has scored a $1 million jackpot -- with a ticket bought at the same gas station where her brother got his. In fact, the family's luck extends to the Long Island gas station -- a clerk there won $1 million after selling the ticket to Altunis' brother. "My mother is a good-luck charm here," Altunis, 32, said at a lottery press conference yesterday. "She's the common denominator." Altunis bought her $500,000,000...

A jury on Friday awarded a Henderson couple $500 million in punitive damages in the first civil trial related to Southern Nevada's hepatitis outbreak. Lawyers for Henry and Lorraine Chanin had suggested damages of more than $1 billion against Teva Parenteral Medicine and Baxter Healthcare Services.

An employee for NBC is one of the holders of a $266-million lottery ticket purchased in Pico Rivera, according to KNBC News. "One of the owners of the winning ticket works at NBCLA. The owners of the winning ticket said they're not ready to come forward, yet, and asked not to be identified," the station said on its website. *snip* The Mega Millions ticket matching all six numbers was purchased at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue on Washington Boulevard. The winner has not come forward.

Impeach Obama under U.S. Code Title 31 5362, “Unlawful Internet Gambling” shows that the Obama campaign ran what could qualify as lotteries, and therefore illegal Internet gambling, to raise money. Barack Obama signed his name to one such solicitation and also stated openly that the promotion cheated some of the entrants (by announcing a winner prior to the entry deadline). This activity may also have been illegal under U.S. Code, Title 18 1084, "Transmission of wagering information; penalties," also known as the Federal Wire Wager Act. Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire...

The President of the United States can be impeached and removed from office for a "high crime or misdemeanor" committed prior to or during his tenure. Internet gambling, specifically the "Dinner with Barack" promotions in which donors of $5 or more had a chance to win an expenses-paid trip to have dinner with Barack Obama, seems to qualify as a violation of U.S. Code Title 31 Subchapter IV, "Prohibition on funding of unlawful Internet gambling." The term “unlawful Internet gambling” means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by any means which involves the use, at...

Illegal Internet gambling in violation of U.S. Code Title 31, 5362 is a "high crime or misdemeanor" The "birther" issue is a senseless and unwinnable battle that squanders time and resources, a fraction of which could easily result in Obama's removal from office for very real, proven, and documented reasons as shown below. In other words, it would make excellent sense for Barack Obama and his followers to start this rumor themselves to divert attention and efforts from very real and easily exploitable vulnerabilities. As stated by Sun Tzu's Art of War, the best way to win is to defend...