Canadian family charged with stealing $12.5M lottery jackpot

Comment #24

sully16 — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 12:30:42 GMT

Scary stuff.

Comment #23

jarasan — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 01:29:36 GMT

Minority Report.

L.A. police are using software to predict where the next crime is going to take place. Welcome to the future.

They want to monitor FB MSpace Twitter etc. next it will be LP

Comment #22

starchild_45 — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:58:40 GMT

thanks for the info. i was so sleepy after work when i posted this and referred to this story. thanks again.

Comment #21

RJOh — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 17:26:57 GMT

There is a solution and many stores in Ohio are doing it on their own. After tickets are checked, winners and losers, they are returned to the the customers and the clerks only keeps the slip showing how much the customer won for their records. Some have a waste basket near the counters so the customers can throw their tickets away.

Lotteries should make this a standard procedure for all their lottery retailers. I know this won't stop winning tickets ending up in the wrong hands but it would... [ More ]

Comment #20

Feisty1 — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 05:29:48 GMT

Comment #19

rdgrnr — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:02:38 GMT

I'm glad the OLG is taking a proactive approach but I think it's becoming increasingly clear that lotteries everywhere have to come up with some standardized system that will take people's lottery dreams out of the hands of sleazy retail clerks.

Surely they can devise a system or establish some type of protocols to preclude these creeps from carrying out their crimes.

It seems odd after all these reports of people being ripped off that it hasn't been done yet.

Comment #18

kapla — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:37:10 GMT

I thought the same thing!

The OLG said it uncovered the alleged fraud thanks to new technology it's been using since June to track and detect patterns in ticket sale data. In this case, the technology created a profile of the owner of the 2003 winning ticket.

The ticket buyer likely lived and worked in both St. Catharines and Burlington and often bought many tickets, which leads investigators to believe the winning ticket was part of a group purchase. The buyer regularly purchased Super 7... [ More ]

Comment #17

savagegoose — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:39:16 GMT

did a quick goole found their website and a story called luck of the draw

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/luckofthedraw/index.html

Comment #16

starchild_45 — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:08:12 GMT

this story has been on the news in canada for awhile. the lottery people just could not get goods on them. a program called the 5th estate did a story on this family. they were running away in order not to answer questions. this was a problem in ontairio and bc. i am too tired to go to the cbc web site to look for this story and get the link.

Comment #15

Daveyl — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:05:15 GMT

Feisty, you'll notice how long it took to bring this investigation to it's conclusion. I think perhaps people were starting to complain about retailers winning jackpots (as we should in America..) and suddenly lottery investigators cited this particular family's illegal actions, and subsequent arrests as an example of their efficiency. If there's one thing government is good at, it's hiding the horse from public view, as they close the barn door on another scam.

Comment #14

savagegoose — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:29:10 GMT

http://www.salotteries.com.au/Content.aspx?p=150

here is link to my states player registration card. once it used ot cost $2 a year to get and keep emebership but now its an added cost of the ticket price.

sure freedom and all that but at least the tickets YOU buy are safely in your name. although there was a news article about a woman who bought a ticket and the agent accidently registered it onto someone elses card!

didnt clear the machine properly before the lady bought her... [ More ]

Comment #13

imsochill — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:53:12 GMT

i visit this site pretty often to see new lotto stories and what not and i think im more amazed at this certain post, not because of what happend but the fact that no one took notice to the fact that they so call have a new technology that creates profiles on the consumers and not just consu,ers as a whole but individualy which is by far the most suspect thing i have ever heard .....i dont this i really need to say more, i mean dont get me wrong people do win and the chance IS there but is there... [ More ]

Comment #12

HaveABall — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 05:09:38 GMT

Perhaps the store burning down wasn't irony.

Comment #11

Diamon Life — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:21:50 GMT

Shame, Shame on them!!!

Those lotto clerks are out to take everything and anything. I ounce experience this year a lotto clerk trying to take my take 5 lotto 3rd place win, I had 2 tickets worth 20 dollars each and he only gave me back the 2 free plays on it and said that's all you get. Well I made a ruckus in that store for my ticket back and my money. After arguing with the clerk for sometime and was about to call the police, he suddenly realize its a winner after all. I latter found out he... [ More ]

Comment #10

MADDOG10 — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:13:02 GMT

I would be able to understand this better, If it was a winner and they weren't given the ticket back then I would say the OLG and police had a case, but the winning ticket came out as a free play and they or nobody else would have known it was a winner. A person could have validated the other ticket and then left the free play or forgot about it. Their case is slim to none IMHO...

Comment #9

Feisty1 — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 21:28:20 GMT

I'm surprised that they could track a free ticket back to the ticket that won it. Also I wonder why the father and son would steal a free ticket which was only worth the price of a ticket before the drawing took place unless they had a habit of trying to steal all their customers free tickets.

When I used to live and play in NY I would win free plays often from the Take-5 game. Clerks would regularly attempt to STEAL one here and there. I say here and there because I used to play a large amou... [ More ]

Comment #8

RJOh — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:26:46 GMT

Someone bought a ticket at a That's Entertainment video store in St. Catharines, Ont., and validated it in nearby Burlington, where it won a free play, police allege. The father and son who validated the ticket at the convenience store never handed the free ticket over to the customer, police said.

It's unlikely someone who owned and worked at a store in Burlington that sold lottery tickets would travel to St. Catharines to buy lottery tickets and validate them at their own store. I'm surpris... [ More ]

Comment #7

fwlawrence — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:46:59 GMT

I still don't understand that if no one came forward to say they've been scammed in the first place, then how were these people suspected

Comment #6

KY Floyd — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:30:04 GMT

I recently got a free QP when I bought a NY lotto ticket. I had no idea there was any kind of promotion, and looked on the lottery's website but couldn't find anything. If the clerk had simply kept the ticket there's no way I would have known.

Comment #5

louise black — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:06:56 GMT

I am wondering now, If I have been scam too I have had a lot of tickets before getting clued in on the see the not a winner slip. Shame on those creeps for their dishonesty,hope they get enough time to make them ask the question is it worth it. Throw the book at them.

Comment #4

Grovel — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:59:51 GMT

I have to blame the victim as well. It's not that hard to check your own ticket or at the very least sign the back of it before you hand it to someone.

Comment #3

dpoly1 — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:59:39 GMT

Wow! These days it seems that we cannot trust very many people. I am always wary of people as I go about my business each day. If I have not know someone for 30 or 40 years, I view them with caution!

I am least comfortable around people in public places. You can't trust hardly anyone these days. There is a family that lives about 200 yards away from me that is constantly being arrested! The 18 year old son was recently shot tying to rob a 74 year old man!

These clerks should get the maximu... [ More ]

Comment #2

savagegoose — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 13:36:39 GMT

well that is an amazing story. people whjo dont even know theyve been scammed are beinglooked after. how would you feel. looks like another one for self picked over quick picks, im sure there in not much of a profile available for quick pickers. but im guessing the numnbers entered where part of a regular purchase of the same numbers in the same stores.

Comment #1

THRUST — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 13:18:34 GMT

Shame on them.

Canadian family charged with stealing $12.5M lottery jackpot

Lottery Post — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:23:11 GMT

Search is on for rightful owner of winning ticket

Are you the victim of an alleged $12.5-million lottery jackpot theft?

Ontario police say someone else celebrated with what should have been your happy dance. The rightful owner of the Super 7 ticket was defrauded of the winnings nearly seven years ago, police say.

Meanwhile, investigators allege the family accused of stealing the winnings lived in the lap of luxury multiple homes and BMW and Mercedes vehicles were among their big-ticket