The 65-year-old won a $55,558 top prize on a “5 Times Bingo” Scratchers game the day after Christmas.

Happy holidays indeed.

“I went to get some refreshments before the Falcons and Saints football game,” Parks recalled, referring to a stop at Casey’s General Store, 201 S. Maiden Lane, in Joplin.

“I had $3 left, so I was trying to choose between ‘Crossword’ and ‘Bingo,’ and I finally took the ‘Bingo,’ because it takes longer to scratch it.”

After returning home, settling in on his favorite recliner and turning on the television, the grandfather-of-four began “watching pre-game stuff and scratching.”

“All of a sudden, I realized that I had won,” he shared.

He joked that his first post-win thought was, “I’m going to the Bahamas!”

The retiree explained that the windfall would actually be going toward a venture closer to his heart. He and his wife are in the process of adopting three of their grandchildren.

“We don’t have a very big house, so we’re going to try to expand,” said Parks. “It means a lot. It means more than I can even tell you. This prize will make life easier.”

Here’s a scam you should watch for.

It happened last year and the con man was sentenced in December.

Queens, New York District Attorney Richard A. Brown and New York Lottery Director Gordon Medenica nabbed  a Far Rockaway man who defrauded several individuals around the state out of large sums of money by creating phony winning scratch off tickets for New York State Lottery games.

What this creep did is cut and pasted winning numbers on losing tickets and then selling them for half the value of the supposed winning tickets – which usually had a winning prize of between $10,000 and $30,000 a ticket.

He has pleaded guilty in the case.

“The defendant has pleaded guilty to having gained the trust of strangers and offering them a way to double their money quickly on a seemingly lucrative financial offer that invariably turned out to be too good to be true,” said District Attorney Brown.

“The defendant’s scheme was nothing more than a variation on a classic con game. People should always be suspicious of any financial scheme that requires them to turn over their money to a complete stranger on short notice.”

New York Lottery Director Gordon Medenica said, “It’s important to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the simple steps that can be taken to protect yourself: sign your ticket, use Lottery Ticket Checkers to see if you’ve won, and always get a validated receipt when cashing a winning ticket. New Yorkers have a well-earned reputation for skepticism, so if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Alvin Summers, 37, of 79-28 Gouveneur Avenue in the Far Rockaway section of Queens.

GAMES WE PLAY:

No big winners in this past week’s Mega Millions and Powerball games. Both jackpots are topping the $90 million mark.

Good luck to all of us.

It may have been news to the TV audience, but I’ve been talking about it for years.

Briefly, California man matched 5 of 6 numbers playing the Mega Millions game and that ticket he bought was worth about $500,000.

He didn’t know it.

He went to the store (his regular store) where he knew the lottery winning ticket was sold.

He asked the clerk to verify the ticket. It was a winner, the clerk said. A $4 winner. Man took the the $4.

Months later, the clerk cashed in a winning $500,000 lottery ticket.

He was eventually caught for his crime.

But it is a cautionary tale.

If you play the lottery, check your ticket numbers. I know a lot of you don’t, right away.

It’s a good policy to sign the back of your ticket.

If you win, it’s your money. Don’t let anyone else steal it from you.

LOTTERY GAMES I PLAY:

The August 4 Mega Millions game has an $84 million jackpot.
The August 5 Powerball game carries a $138 million jackpot.
The August 5 Canada Lotto 6/49 offers up a $35 million (Canadian dollars, $32 million, U.S.) jackpot.
And the August 7 Euro Millions jackpot has risen to 42 million euros, or about $59 million, in U.S. dollars.

Good luck to every lottery player around the world.

It was a quick pick. That’s right: a freaking computer gave someone $133 million. Talk about just rewards. Someone had that luckiest of all days ever.

Isn’t that what we all want…those of us who play the big money games? But a computer…. God blessed the winner. There is no other explanation.

In Queens, people are keeping their eyes peeled for the person holding a Mega Millions ticket worth $133 million.

“No one has come to make a claim yet,” said Dilip Patel, 35, who works at the Shiv Convenience Store on Hillside Ave.

Hey…I grew up near Hillside Avenue.

“As far as I know it was a woman and she is really lucky,” said the worker.

There was only one ticket that matched all six numbers in Tuesday’s drawing, officials said. The winning numbers were 25, 27, 35, 38, 39 and the Mega ball was 28.

The store, which Patel said sells about $4,000 in lottery tickets daily, was adorned with bright orange signs Wednesday calling on the ticket holder to step forward.

Patel, an immigrant from India, said lottery officials called him around 8 a.m. Wednesday informing him that his store sold the winning ticket.

The store, owned by Jayef Patel, who is unrelated to Dilip, will get $10,000, lottery officials said.

Officials said the winner allowed the computer to pick the numbers. The player selected the lump sum option instead of getting 26 annual payments.

There were also three second prize tickets sold in Monroe, Suffolk and Dutchess counties. Those tickets matched five numbers and are worth $250,000 each.

I couldn’t be happier for the winners.

GAMES WE PLAY:

There was no big winner in the Wednesday night, July 8, Powerball game. Winning numbers are 19,42,50,53,56 and the Power ball is 39. The Power Play is 2.

5 tickets matched the first five numbers. Each ticket is worth $200,000. Those tickets were bought in Connecticut, Florida (2), Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

The July 11 Powerball game is now offering up a $38 million jackpot.
The July 10 Mega Millions game jackpot reverts to a $12 million jackpot.
While the Euro MIllions jackpot is soaring…and is now up to 38 million euros.

Good luck, players around the world.

Photo is courtesy of Indiana Lottery

Kimberly Roach of Indianapolis had tears streaming down her face. But, they were tears of joy.

“I’ll probably cry for the next month,” said Roach. “This will change my life.”

Roach claimed $500,000 (half a million dollars) from Hoosier Lottery Headquarters in Indianapolis with her daughter, her brother Todd and her boyfriend Rob Bowman.

“The first thing I said was ‘Praise God,’” said Roach.

Then she called her boyfriend, Rob, and told him of the win after she scratched off a “Money Mania” scratch card in her car.

She was parked outside of the retailer where she purchased her ticket: a downtown Citgo on East Ohio St. in Indianapolis.

“I thought something bad had happened when she first called,” said Bowman. “I thought she was in a car accident the way she was screaming.”

The Indianapolis resident owns her own cleaning business called Kimberly’s Cleaning Service.

“Oh this will help quite a bit,” said Roach. She plans to invest in her business, as well as buy a house and purchase a car for her daughter.

But first, Roach plans to go home and relax.

“I still can’t believe it,” said Roach.

GAMES WE PLAY:
Three huge jackpots are in play this week.
The Feb. 24 Mega Millions game offers up a $145 million jackpot.
The Feb. 25 Powerball jackpot is $150 million.
The Feb. 27 Euro Millions jackpot is 41 million Euros, or $53.9 million, U.S.

Good luck, everyone.

MY BOOK is on sale on amazon.com, barnes and noble…and at the publisher’s (McAllister Books) web site. It was targetted for beginners and the experienced players. Lots of how-tos…but also the book is packed with inspiring and amusing (I hope) stories about winners.

Now, we all know that systems don’t work. If they did, lotteries wouldn’t be the billion dollar business they are.

But what if someone actually devised a winning system? Is it possible?

Or does the player just play a lot, so he wins a lot.

Over the 10 years I’ve been covering the business I have met some extraordinarily lucky people who have won multiple times, and I must say, not all of them play a lot. Some do, sure. I interviewed a player the other day who won $100,000…and has won multiple times before, but he plays $20 a day. To a gambler, that’s not a lot of money, but to most folks, $20 a day is beyond what they can afford.

But, to the case at hand.

The Colorado Lottery launched an investigation into a repeat winner and his self-described “system” for winning the Cash Five jackpot again and again.

Officials don’t think he’s cheating. Tadeusz Krupa may just being winning because he plays so often.

Krupa splits his time between two modest homes.

His Fort Lupton home office is sparsely furnished: a few chairs, a computer, some papers scattered about the floor and a kitchen pantry filled with stacks of lottery tickets, noted a reporter from Channel 9.

The multitude of tickets, along with luck, are the only valid explainations for Krupa’s winning ways, say lottery officials.

The Colorado Lottery investigated when other lottery players complained that Krupa and his immediate family had won $1,000 or more in Colorado’s Cash 5 game a total of 21 times since December 2007.

21 times.

His $158,000 haul, before taxes, includes seven $20,000 jackpots.

“We know that this gentlemen didn’t scam the system,” said Colorado Lottery Deputy Director Tom Kitts.

“It was just an unusual occurance,” said Kitts. “My best guess is this gentlemen and his family probably play quite a bit… there’s been an incredible streak of luck here as well.”

“I have a system,” said Krupa. When asked what it was, he said, “It is up here,” tapping his forehead.

“If anyone claims to have a system, they may believe they have a system, but we certainly don’t believe there is such a thing,” said Kitts.

Krupa says he searches for “winning numbers” on the Internet, then fills out thousands of playing tickets by hand. Store clerks say Krupa has been known to buy thousands of dollars worth of tickets a week.

Krupa claims he has won more than he has spent. There is no way to prove it.

Krupa was nonchalant when asked about the idea of luck.

While he plays thousands of number combinations at a time, Krupa says he has a set of “lucky numbers”, and offered to share them if anyone is interested: 8, 12, 16, 22 and 27.

It’s an unusual story. And while I think the winnings are accountable through sheer number of plays, I have met people who have won more than 21 times, mostly playing the Pick 3 and Pick 4 “street” number games.

In my upcoming book I devote an entire chapter on strategies. I do think strategies are fun ways to play, and I personally play hot and cold numbers, but in the end, I do not think strategies can guarantee anyone a win.

Luck does.

And…dare I say it? …. God coming down and touching you with good fortune. I can think of no other explanation.

In last night’s Powerball game I organized an office pool (I work at a newspaper), so we had 14 chances to win something…anything… we quick picked all the games and won nothing.

Oh, well.

You comments on systems? Do you know of any systems that work for you or someone you know?

Please let me know.

Don’t buy or play lotteries through the mail. Don’t pay attention to unsolicited letters telling you that you’ve won an overseas … or even Canadian Lottery. If you live in Europe the same thing holds. Watch out for unsolicited letters saying you’ve won something.

In fact, when something like this happens, call up your local lottery and report the scam. They have whole teams dedicated to rooting this kind of nonsense out.

Unfortunately, though, some people fall for it.

Alfred Frizziola, 66, of N.J. recently opened his mail and found a check for $4,875, the winnings of a sweepstakes he hadn’t even entered. Wisely, he didn’t cash the check.

“I knew something was fishy right away,” the retired New York City firefighter told the Asbury Park Press newspaper. “It was a scam, but I didn’t know how it worked.”

Here is how it works. The check is accompanied by a letter. In this case it was from the Universal Rewards & Trust in Toronto. It typically says that you have won $125,000 in the DE-Lotto North American Sweepstakes Lottery on Shoppers.The enclosed check is for the “payment” of applicable government taxes.

The winner is supposed to deposit the check, call a telephone number and then wire $2,875 to a “government tax agent.”

If you deposit the check, it will bounce days later. But the $2,800 you wired north is gone with the wind.

“This scam has been around for years and it preys primarily on the senior population and taps into greed and naivete.

These criminals are hard to trace. The scam artists use cell phones, change the name of companies on the fly, and work outside of the United States.

You are not going to win a contest you never entered and you should never have to pay to receive a prize,” said an expert in these kinds of scams. “People should know it is illegal for a United States citizen to play a foreign lottery anyway.

By the numbers:

Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is worth $23 million.
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is worth $15 million.

Good luck.

According to police records, the Israelis conned mainly New York seniors out of more than $2 million.

The crooks worked out of a “boiler room” in Israel, where they cold called seniors, convincing them to wire as much as $40,000 to Israel to claim nonexistent sweepstakes prizes.

According to the Post, the scam artists targeted senior citizens, who were told that the calls were coming from a New York law firm and that the wire transfers were taxes and fees that needed to be paid before the winnings could be released, according to a police complaint charge sheet issued in Manhattan federal court.

More than 10 victims were given a US toll-free number to call and told not to tell anyone about the prize drawing, prosecutors said.

This is a very typical lottery scam.

The money was allegedly wired via Western Union to accounts at Bank Leumi, Bank Hapoalim and Union Bank between September 2007 and this month, said the police complaint sheet.

It was the largest number of Israelis ever held on a single extradition request.

“Cooperation between law enforcement and prosecutors’ offices here and in Israel has made clear that borders provide no safe haven for such fraudulent schemes,” Michael Garcia, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The Tel Aviv Fraud Division of the Israel Police, the Justice Ministry and the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office all participated in the investigation.

The suspects were detained by Israeli authorities on September 9 and 11.

If they are sent to the US, each defendant will face two counts of committing wire fraud through telemarketing and one of conspiracy to commit fraud. They could be sentenced up to 30 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

One suspect, named Shai Kadosh, is still at large, police said.

In my upcoming book on Lotteries I devote an entire chapter on scams and how to avoid them. Senior citizens, unfortunately, are the all too often targets of these criminals.

It is one of my main goals, to keep an eye out for scams.

To keep you safe.

We all love playing the lottery. Unfortunately, there are criminals out there ruining it all, preying on the unsuspecting.

If you think you are being scammed, please let me know and I’ll investigate.

In the Money:

Tonight’s Powerball jackpot is $15 million.

We are still waiting to see who, in New Mexico, owns the one winning ticket worth $206.9 million.

There were no jackpot winners in last night’s Mega Millions drawing, but five players matched the first five balls and each won $250,000. The numbers were 9,30,35,39,49 and the Mega Ball was 36. The winning tickets were bought in Illinois (2), Michigan, New York and Texas. Friday’s Mega Million jackpot rolls up to $42 million.

Good luck.

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.

In the late 1990s, it was discovered that the results one of the many lotteries held in Italy, was rigged. The organizers, in order to increase credibility of the game’s impartiality, ask blindfolded children to draw the winning numbers. However, investigators found out that this ruse is flawed. The blindfold used to cover the eyes of the children did not completely block out the child’s sight. These “faulty blindfolds” afforded the children a degree of vision (not complete vision) – vision that’s enough for them to discern one thing from another. To aid the children, the hollow metal balls used in the lottery are shined, with the balls that correspond to the desired winning numbers, buffed to a very high gloss. These balls would be shinier and feel smoother to the touch. After the numbers have been drawn, the children are given a toy or candies and asked to keep quiet. The police believe that key members of the organizers are involved in this scandal and, even the children asked to draw the numbers, are remotely related to employees of the organizers.

Inspectors believe that the cheating started out as a low-key operation but spiraled out of control when the local mafia found out about it and wanted to be part of the syndicate. Although many have been arrested, many others have managed to flee the city and may still be rigging lotteries in other nearby Italian cities. At that time, investigators believe that the rigging has been going on for over a decade.

Today, lottery organizers, both government and non-government run alike, strive to bring back the confidence of consumers. They have employed various precautionary measures such as weighing or measuring the balls used to ensure that all are of equal size and weight. In addition, not only do they televise the selection of the numbers, the process requires very minimal human interaction. The winning numbers are also no longer drawn by human hands. The selection of numbers is done either by computer or other mechanical methods. The confidence of people on lotteries and on lottery organizers is slowly returning but it may take some time before people can feel secure about lottery activities and their results.