Sometimes lottery does not only mean marvelous wins and the thrill of putting your money at stake. In some cases, this simple game of chance becomes the center of a huge scandal or scam. In this article, we have listed some of the most daring lottery scams and the most notorious scandals. Find more gambling-related articles on GBC Time.
But first, watch this video to know how lottery scams work.
Selbees beat the lottery thanks to superior math skills
This elderly couple found themselves involved in a lottery scandal due to their deep knowledge of math and sheer luck. In 2019, the story of Jerry and Marge Selbee aired on the popular US TV Show – Sixty Minutes. The couple managed to beat not just one but two lottery games.
In 2003, the couple was running a small business – a convenience store in Michigan, when Jerry found out about the new lottery raffle from the local lottery. The game was called Winfall and Mr. Selbee, who had a degree in mathematics, quickly realized that the raffle was flawed. The game had a loophole, which allowed players to win large sums of money. Soon, Jerry and Marge were wagering huge sums and winning thousands of US dollars. The couple even launched an investment company, inviting their friends and family to partake in the business. Eventually, the Michigan lottery decided to close the Winfall game in 2005.
This same year, however, the friend of Selbees told them about a similar game in Massachusetts – Cash Winfall. So, for the next six years, from 2005 to 2011, the couple was driving to the other state to buy lottery tickets and continue their business.
In 2011, however, a Boston Globe reporter found out that several locations were selling a large number of Cash Winfall tickets. The brief investigation led to the Selbees and a group of MIT students. The Lottery Commission and Attorney General started their investigation but, in the end, the state determined that the pensioners were not doing anything illegal.
You can watch the full story here:
Dan Tim Pouline – Facebook lottery scam
While in 2022 the Facebook scam sounds like an ordinary thing, ten years ago it was a huge scandal. This was one of the first lottery frauds that took place on social media.
In 2012, a woman received a message from the Main Lottery signed by Dan Tim Pouline. The message stated that she had won $40 000 on the Mega Millions game but to withdraw her winnings she has to pay a processing fee. The private message also contained a link to the fake website, which looked very realistically and had the signature of Dan Tim Pouline as well.
The woman ended up calling the lottery and finding out that it was a scam. The signature, however, was the name of the real head of the Maine Lottery, Tim Pouline, combined with the name of his predecessor, Dan Gwadowski. The story was a huge scandal at the time.
The Hot Lotto fraud scandal
The Hot Lotto fraud is a story of a man who rigged a lottery system he designed himself. This was one of the most notorious lottery scams in the US, as the company ended up losing over $24 million.
Eddie Tipton used to work as a Head of Information Security at the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Tipton was tasked to design a Random Number Generator (RNG) for the games. To make his scam work, the man created a self-destructing code that would allow him to know the winning lottery numbers in some cases.
As a MUSL employee, Tipton was forbidden from partaking in lottery raffles himself. So, he sought help from his brother Tommy and a friend Robert Rhodes. Over six years, from 2005 to 2011, the trio successfully hijacked the lottery games all across the US – from Iowa to Colorado.
For a long time, the scheme went unnoticed by the authorities. In 2010, however, Eddie himself made a fatal mistake, when he bought a Hot Lotto ticket at a convenience store in Iowa. When the ticket won a $16.5 million jackpot, Tipton’s lawyer tried to claim the prize. The state laws, however, did not permit anonymous lottery claims. The lawyer quickly withdrew the request and the winnings were left unclaimed for a long time. So, the authorities launched an investigation and found security footage of Eddie purchasing the ticket. In July 2015, Tipton was found guilty and got sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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