Lottery winner shortchanged by store

May 3, 2007, 7:43 am (11 comments)

Massachusetts Lottery

Man paid $1,500 on $4,000 scratch ticket

The lottery machines and scratch tickets were pulled from Kirsch Liquors in Worcester, Massachusetts, last month, after a man was scammed there when he received only $1,500 on a $4,000 winning scratch ticket, a state Lottery Commission official said.

The Lottery Commission will file a decision by the end of the month on whether to suspend the store's lottery license for 30 days or indefinitely.

Damaso Vasquez told Lottery Commission authorities he bought a $1 ticket from the store at 646 Main St., and when he found it was a winner, he took it back to the store on Sunday, according to Lottery Commission spokeswoman Beth A. Bresnahan.

Mr. Vasquez said someone at the store gave him $1,500 and took the ticket. Mr. Vasquez became suspicious, however, once he learned that winning scratch tickets worth $600 or more cannot be redeemed in stores and must be taken to a Lottery Commission regional office, Ms. Bresnahan said.

The scratch ticket winner filed a complaint at the Lottery Commission's office in the city on April 3 and an investigation was immediately started, resulting in the removal of all lottery tickets and lottery machines from the store.

"They were suspended immediately once the claim was filed," Ms. Bresnahan said.

The winning Wild Cherries ticket was cashed and the person who cashed it in told investigators he was paid by the store's owner, Robert Kirsch, to cash it, Ms. Bresnahan said. The man who cashed in the ticket was a former employee of Kirsch Liquors, she said.

By coincidence, Kirsch is the German word for "cherry."

The state Lottery Commission's Web site places the odds of winning the $4,000, the highest prize on the ticket, at 1 in 144,000.

Mr. Kirsch said today he had no comment after serving a man who asked whether there were scratch tickets available, only to have the owner shake his head no. Mr. Kirsch then said a former employee was responsible for the scam, and said the employee was fired before the ticket scandal.

When asked how a former employee could get behind the counter of the store and scan the ticket into a lottery machine, Mr. Kirsch responded, "That's a story for another day."

Ms. Bresnahan said the Lottery Commission has records of scratch ticket transactions, and traced the winning ticket's history to the liquor store.

"We have records of all transactions," she said. "We know where a ticket was sold from and where it was scanned."

For tax purposes and because most stores do not have the cash on hand to pay out big winners, all scratch tickets that win $600 or more must be cashed at regional Lottery offices. All stores selling tickets are aware of the rules, Ms. Bresnahan said.

Mr. Vasquez filed a claim to recover the winnings and the commission will make a decision during a hearing how he will be paid. The commission can only pay out a prize once, she said, noting the ticket was later cashed in for the full prize.

Kirsch Liquors had an April 26 hearing before a Lottery Commission board, and the board has 30 days to make a decision on the method of payment for Mr. Vasquez and what, if any, action to take against the store.

In January 2004, a Westboro resident was duped by a gas station clerk in Westboro out of her winning $20,000 ticket. Erika R. Schmitt, a college student, purchased a $2 winning Lucky Stars ticket Jan. 18, 2004, from clerk Antoine Y. Reiche at the Getty Mart at 11 Milk St. Ms. Schmitt was unsure whether she had won the big prize and showed it to Mr. Reiche, who snatched it from her, saying it was worth only $100, and paid her cash from the store's register.

The college student complained to police and Mr. Reiche was charged with larceny of property worth more than $250. Mr. Reiche admitted to stealing the ticket in court and was ordered to write a letter of apology to Ms. Schmitt. He also received one year of probation and was ordered to pay fines.

Ms. Schmitt received a check for $14,000, which was how much the winnings were after taxes, from the state Lottery Commission a few months after the incident. The store's lottery license was suspended from Jan. 23, 2001, to Feb. 10, 2001, and reinstated quickly because there was proof the owner wasn't involved in the theft of the ticket.

Worcester Telegram

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Comments

DetroitJazzMan

I say check the rules yourself, sign ticket and make a copy verify your ticket against what constitutes a winner.  Are you really in that big of a hurry?  And these attendants, and lottery operators......I don't know what to say.  I guess trust is like a secret.....Its only guranteed when you limit it to your self!

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Some clerks will take advantage of customers who don't know all the rules of a lottery games. 

Once when Ohio was promoting a lottery game with a free QP with every $5 ticket purchased I had to remind a clerk the free ticket was for me the customer and not for her, she had been keeping the free QPs for herself when customers didn't know about the promotion.

LuckyLilly's avatarLuckyLilly

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on May 3, 2007

Some clerks will take advantage of customers who don't know all the rules of a lottery games. 

Once when Ohio was promoting a lottery game with a free QP with every $5 ticket purchased I had to remind a clerk the free ticket was for me the customer and not for her, she had been keeping the free QPs for herself when customers didn't know about the promotion.

I hope you turned her in to the lottery commission.  If more get caught and punished, maybe it would deter at least a others from even trying it.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by LuckyLilly on May 3, 2007

I hope you turned her in to the lottery commission.  If more get caught and punished, maybe it would deter at least a others from even trying it.

No I didn't but I later told the store owner who found out she was also stealing from the store and fired her.  The store owner should have expected as much since she was trying to run a small store paying her employees less than they could make at Wal-Mart two blocks away, she was only getting people that no one else would hire.  Her store later went out of business.

LckyLary

Usually a few certain stores (name withheld) are Fast to see me as a Mark and they add a few dollars to my Lottery total. The problem at this Store is it's hard to see the readout on the Lottery terminal. Be careful at such a place! When you validate a ticket READ THE TERMINAL WINDOW and KNOW the game you're playing so you KNOW what the prize should be and make SURE it matches their readout. In this situation nothing got scanned or entered and that ALONE should be highly suspicious.

JAP69's avatarJAP69

State lotteries should have undercover agents going around cashing winning tickets looking for these payout scammers.

emilyg's avataremilyg

Quote: Originally posted by DetroitJazzMan on May 3, 2007

I say check the rules yourself, sign ticket and make a copy verify your ticket against what constitutes a winner.  Are you really in that big of a hurry?  And these attendants, and lottery operators......I don't know what to say.  I guess trust is like a secret.....Its only guranteed when you limit it to your self!

I Agree!

HiYoSilver

If an employee is the one doing this then suspend the store for 30 days. If the owner is involved, pull the tickets and machines permanently. 

If I ever found out a store I was buying lottery tickets in was doing this, they would never see me again. 

spy153's avatarspy153

Quote: Originally posted by JAP69 on May 3, 2007

State lotteries should have undercover agents going around cashing winning tickets looking for these payout scammers.

now there's a job I could sink my teeth into....

JohnnyCharles

Rest assure we are out there ....but we can't get to them all.  If you think you were scammed call the Lottery in your state and make a complaint.

Cr4zyH0rs3

All I know is that those stories are very true to the fact, there is a store here I'm not naming any names though they have like all these winnings posted but you know what when I ask around to the regs that go there none of them respond to those winnings. I don't purchase alot of scratch offs but when I do I go to the machines instead.

Had far much better luck from a machine than human.

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