Category Archives: Lottery

Mississippi busts scammers who glued winning lottery ticket

Mississippi’s new state lottery isn’t yet a couple months old and already some hopeless scammers have been caught trying to game the system.

On Monday, the Mississippi Lottery Corp (MLC) announced that two local residents had been arrested after trying to pass off an altered scratch-ticket they claimed was a $100k winner. The pair reportedly showed up at the MLC’s head office in Flowood seeking to redeem their one ticket to paradise, but lottery officials immediately smelled a rat.

Local media quoted MLC spokesperson Meg Annison saying officials quickly concluded that the ticket had been altered by gluing on numbers indicating a $100k winner. Police were called, and Columbus residents Odis Latham and Russell Sparks were arrested shortly thereafter and charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a counterfeit instrument over $1k, leaving them looking at a potential 20-year prison sentence.

The MLC only began offering numeric draw games and scratch-off tickets in late-November, following the 2018 passage of legislation that finally cancelled Mississippi’s membership in the shrinking club of non-lottery US states. That club now has a mere five members: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

Few filing claims in $4.3 million lottery scam settlement; deadline Jan. 7

Victims of the largest lottery scam in U.S. history are expected to pocket only a small fraction of a $4.3 million settlement because of a lack of applicants laying claim to the money, court records show.Insider Buzz, Legal, Hot Lotto, Scandal, Technology, Security, Computerized Drawings, Fraud, Crime, Multi-State Game, Web Site, Court, MUSL

A reporter won the lottery and quit her job, live on air — only to find the payout was about $5,500

A Spanish television reporter appeared to celebrate and quit her job on live television after realizing she had a winning El Gordo lottery ticket. It was a decision for which she would later apologize.Winner Stories, International, El Gordo, Resignation, Broadcast, Spain, News Media, Television, Raffle

India’s GST Council sets flat rate of 28 percent for tax on lottery

In a move that is likely to be considered welcome news by both lottery operators and customers across India, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council agreed last Wednesday to set a flat rate for tax on the lottery system. The new tax will be set at 28% on all lottery tickets sold by agencies and operators licensed to offer these tickets.

This helped to settle an ongoing dispute that had been going on for months. The Council had recently considered offering two different tax rates, a 12% rate for state lotteries and a 28% rate for private distributors. This was considered to be unconstitutional by many, even though it had been ruled lawful by the Calcutta High Court.

There had been a push by the gambling community to set a single rate, but it had appeared that the GST Council was not interested in the formula. In a recent article in the Goan Daily Herald, it was reported that the vast majority of the Council members were against such a system, but seem to have come around recently in agreeing that this was a more sensible way to set the rates.

Recently, revenues from the lotteries have been declining, and there has been a growing concern that taxes associated with the lottery have been crippling sales. This has led many to push for a more amenable tax rate, including bringing down the number of slabs under the GST.