Cheaters, Liars, Thieves – Faking a Lottery Win
Faking a Lottery Win – What Is It?
Money seems to be the root of evil, at least easy money. People can forget about their integrity and what little morals they might have if they come across an opportunity to get richer without any effort. I haven’t been in a situation such as this, but I know that I will be able to withstand the pressure of the temptation. I won’t give in to the dark side!
So what falls into the category of faking a lottery win? After a rather vigorous debate with my friends about what should and can be considered as faking a lottery win I came up with these criteria. Stealing the lottery ticket from the rightful owner, abuse of position like such of the cashier/seller at the store, finding the ticket and not returning it to the ticket, cashing out tickets that the person hasn’t actually paid for (this resembles stealing, but it is different, read on). Eventually, the ones that got caught faced the consequences.
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Clerks that Went Rogue – Clerks Lied to Lottery Winners
In a way, they didn’t only lie to their customers who won some prize, but they stole their tickets. The clerks tricked the players into thinking that the tickets are not winning or that they’d simply won a minor prize. Nevertheless, the clerks made a benefit where innocent players had their winnings forfeited.
For instance, Robert Adsit, a clerk working at a 7-Eleven in Colorado abused his position. A customer went in with 3 scratch cards, one of which was a winning one, $5,000 to be precise. The customer gave him the cards and Robert stated that the scratch cards are not winning ones. The thing is, the customer was actually an undercover lottery operative. Yeah, something like the James Bond of the lottery.
Then again, there’s Jesse Gunther. He was, yes, he was a gas station clerk until he fell for the decoy. Another lottery James Bond got him to show his true face and his rogue intentions. The same exact thing happened. What worries me is the fact that not all of these unprofessional clerks and cashiers are taken care of. They’re still out there. I recommend you sign your tickets if you suspect that you might’ve won something. I don’t want to rely on the best intentions the person over the counter has.
Howard Walmsley – The Person Who Faked It Out of Pure Love
I had mixed feelings regarding this case. I didn’t know what to think at first. Should I include his story in the article or just forget about it and keep it silent? However, he did fake the lottery. Well, he did, but this time around no lottery officials were involved whatsoever.
The story is that Howard had problems with his marriage. On top of that, he was in a somewhat financial crisis. So what do you do when you want to salvage your marriage and get as far as possible from your money issues? You fake the lottery. You lie about it. He went on a shopping spree as if he really won the lottery. It turns out that when you mention you’ve won the lottery people believe you immediately, especially sales personnel. Howard bought three Jaguars with void cheques. The debt went sky-high and eventually, somebody had to put an end to it. Our Romeo got arrested in 1999 and was found guilty on several charges like scam, forgery, and deception. Despite his best intentions, despite all of his efforts to save his marriage, he was sent to jail. It’s a rather uncommon story, but it worked out for Howard for quite some time. Faking a lottery win can’t end well.
Eddie Tipton – Security Director Rigged $16.5m Lottery Win
The fish rots from the head down. Eddie Tipton worked at the Multi-State Lottery Association for 10 years before he got promoted to security director. His promotion meant that he was responsible to safeguard the integrity of the random number generator. It turns out Eddie had a different idea. Unlike the previous cases, Eddie hits it on full throttle. He didn’t go for the small prizes. In fact, if he did, he might have never gotten caught. He rigged a $16.5m jackpot. Yes, that’s millions. He even had the courage to go and buy the winning ticket, so foolish of him.
He didn’t just fake it, he completely destroyed the system inside out. Who knows how many more there are just like him? People like Eddie ruin the lottery experience for me and you, the fair players.
All that Glitters is not Gold – Lottery’s Bonnie and Clyde
Howard may’ve had only good intentions, but this couple is totally the opposite. Anne Jeevarajah and her husband Alfred Jeevarajah are lottery’s Bonnie and Clyde I guess. They teamed up to steal more than $180,000 from an elderly person, Gwyn Badham-Davies.
Anne was a newsagent. Was, as she is about to do the dumbest thing. Gwyn wanted to check if the ticket is a winning one. Anne took the ticket telling the rightful winner that she didn’t win anything. Later she gave the ticket to her husband, Alfred and he attempted to claim the prize.
They got caught and they were sentenced to 14 months each in June 2011. I wish they had gotten more time in jail. When I think about it, faking a lottery win is a good idea for a movie script.
A few years ago, the (Indiana) Hoosier Lottery ran a promotion that, if you purchase five Hoosier Lotto tickets at one time, you get an entry form to enter a drawing for a car giveaway. So every week, I would purchase five tickets, and get an entry form, which I would fill out and mail in. One week, I went to a different convenience store to buy my five tickets. The entry form was printed out, as usual, but the clerk took the entry form and set it on top of a small pile of entry forms! He was collecting them for himself! I said, “where’s my entry form?!?” and he gave it to me. When I got home, I contacted the Hoosier Lottery, and eventually got to tell my story to a security officer at the Lottery. I do not know what happened, but a week or two later, this same store had a sign posted, saying that their lottery machines were “broken”. Were they really broken or did the Lottery suspend their sales?