Lottery Moments

A lottery retail clerk may have cheated a winning ticket holder out of $800,000.

Did anyone out there see this item in a recent issue of the New Orlean Times Picayune newspaper?

Well, according to newspaper reports, there is now an ongoing investigation by Louisiana State Police and the state’s Lottery Corporation to determine if a Louisiana convenience store clerk cheated a jackpot winner out of $800,000.

The ticket was bought in May. When the ticket holder came to the store for verification, the clerk allegedly told him he was mistaken and kept the ticket.

A police report contends that Melissa Trahan, 27, sent the winning slip to her mother in Mississippi. That woman, Gwen Landry, drove to the state capital, Baton Rouge, and cashed it in for the $800,000.

Months later, the actual buyer contacted police.

Obviously, the person who played the ticket should be getting the money.

What money the rightful owner will recover is not yet known.

Investigators said they believe the suspects accepted a lump sum payment of $560,000.
A total of $389,000 was subsequently located in a Mississippi bank account. Those funds were frozen.

The investigation continues.

In the Money:

I have written a book about lotteries (now out of print) and one thing I emphasize is that you should sign the back of your ticket … particularly if you think you’ve won a big prize. Sign that ticket before you go have it verified. Sign it right away. And things like the above can’t happen.

No one won last night’s $24 million Mega Million draw, so Tuesday’s jackpot rolls to $32 million. Three players matched the first five numbers, but not the mega ball: one in Massachusetts, one in New Jersey and one (in my home state) New York. Congratulations. You’ve just won $250,000.

Tonight’s Powerball game is the big one. At $200 million, it is the highest jackpot currently in play in the world. It is also the 16th largest Powerball jackpot ever offered.

Good luck to everyone. I’ll be playing as well. Let me know how you did.