Lotteries – too tempting for some

Lotteries – too tempting for some

We are all tempted by the huge lottery jackpots on offer from the world’s lotteries. It’s difficult to resist playing when jackpots worth millions are on offer. Take the USA’s two most popular lotteries, Mega Millions and Powerbll. Over the years players have won incredible lotto fortunes, and the media make sure we get to hear all the details.But what about the people who work in the lottery industry, and come into close contact with winning Mega Millions and Powerball lottery tickets every day? Unfortunately it would seem that for some it’s just too much of a temptation. In the US there has been a sequence of news stories regarding lottery fraud and theft.This includes Mark Barron Hantski, a former Maryland Lottery official, who stole lottery tickets amounting to $99,600. He managed to collect $67,000 in lotto winnings before he was caught.Then there’s Chandi Kelly Ramirez from Des Moines in Iowa. She worked for International Paper, a company that specialises in the destruction and recycling of documents. The company was due to destroy a batch of lottery tickets on the 8th March. However, not all were destroyed, as Chandi Kelly Ramirez had two in her possession. She was caught with the stolen lottery tickets eight days later, when she attempted to cash them at a retail outlet.And finally two brothers, Andy and Nayel Ashkar from New York, have been accused of stealing a winning lottery scratch card worth $5 million. Allegedly Andy Ashkar told the real winner – a customer in his father’s shop - that the ticket was only worth $5,000. He paid the customer $4,000 and kept $1,000 for the shop. That was back in 2006. The two brothers then apparently waited until the very last minute to claim their lotto fortune. When they did, they asked the lottery office if they could take a smaller payout than the $5m to avoid a press conference. This of course sparked suspicion, and an investigation ensued.You can easily buy your Mega Millions and Powerball lottery tickets online at Lottery24.com. In this way, you will be informed in writing of all your winnings.