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Yacht Stolen From Co-Winner of Record Big Game Lottery Jackpot. A yacht was stolen from a lottery winner in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, so that the thief could impress his girlfriend.
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Texas Lottery officials testify that public was deceived. Texas Lottery Commission Chairman C. Thomas Clowe told lawmakers Wednesday that the public was deceived by recently inflated jackpot estimates and vowed the agency would take action to keep it from happening again.
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Texas Lottery Whistleblower Fired. The scandal embroiling the Texas Lottery Commission over inflated jackpot estimates intensified Wednesday when top agency officials acknowledged firing a colleague who only days earlier warned ticket sales would fall short of advertised amounts.
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Virginia lottery winner claims first Set for Life check. Last week, Gordon McKinney of Chuckey, Tenn., won the top prize in the Virginia Lottery’s new scratch-off game, Set for Life, and will receive $2,000 a week for the rest of his life.
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Calif. Lottery Sales Reach Record High. People bought more than $3 billion in California Lottery tickets this fiscal year, a record for the nearly 20-year-old games.
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Powerball Jackpot Winner! There was one $10 million jackpot winner from West Virginia in the Wednesday, June 29, 2005 Powerball drawing. More details to follow after the winner comes forward to claim their prize.
Also, 5 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Missouri, 1 from Pennsylvania, 1 from Tennessee and 1 from Wisconsin. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
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Conn. couple claims $59.5 million Powerball lottery jackpot. A couple from Seymour, Connecticut has claimed Saturday's $59.5 million Powerball jackpot, the largest prize in the 33-year-old history of the Connecticut State Lottery.
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Loan For Oklahoma’s Lottery Operation Delayed. Oklahoma Lottery Commission officials said Monday instant lottery tickets should still go on sale in October, despite an unexpected delay in obtaining loan funds for the state's new lottery operation.
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Texas lawmakers to grill lottery officials about inflated jackpots. Texas lottery officials could face tough questions and some nasty wrist-slapping today when they testify before lawmakers about inflating several Texas Lotto jackpot estimates.
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Store owner who stole customer's winnings stripped of lottery license. A North Andover, Massachusetts, convenience store owner who admitted stealing a customer's winning lottery ticket has been stripped of his license to sell Massachusetts Lottery tickets, a lottery spokeswoman said.
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 4 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $250,000 prize: 1 from California, 1 from Michigan, 1 from New Jersey and 1 from Washington. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
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Honest store clerk returns $100,000 lottery ticket. An Oregon store clerk who initially misread a lottery terminal screen and declared a customer's ticket a loser, later realized his error, and returned the winning ticket to the happy lottery player.
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Winning Powerball lottery ticket sold in Conn.. The only jackpot-winning ticket sold for Saturday night's $59.5 million multistate Powerball drawing was sold in Connecticut, a spokeswoman for the state lottery said.
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Texas Lottery chief admits jackpots were inflated. Texas Lottery officials admitted Friday they inflated their jackpot numbers on four separate occasions.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
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Powerball Jackpot Winner! There was one $62 million jackpot winner from Connecticut in the Saturday, June 25, 2005 Powerball drawing. More details to follow after the winner comes forward to claim their prize.
Also, 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Louisiana (1 with Power Play), 1 from Pennsylvania (1 with Power Play) and 1 from Rhode Island. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday Mega Millions drawing, but 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $250,000 prize: 1 from California, 1 from Massachusetts and 1 from New York. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Friday, June 24, 2005
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N.M. Gov. cancels 8-day-old lottery scratch game. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has ordered the New Mexico Lottery to discontinue a just-released ground-breaking game that paired the lottery with Santa Ana Pueblo's Star Casino via a new scratch ticket.
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Human error to blame for Powerball delay. Human error in Iowa was behind a delay in the midweek Powerball drawing, lottery officials said Thursday.
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Illinois lottery ad agency off the hook. A special audit of the Illinois Lottery's chief ad agency found the company did not keep adequate records to answer key questions about millions of dollars in payments from the state.
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Rhode Island lawmakers to create separate lottery division. The idea of abolishing the legislator-dominated Rhode Island Lottery Commission got its first hearing — and a warm welcome from the governor — at the General Assembly last night.
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Workers Win $15M Lottery Jackpot After Playing Wrong Game. Eleven dental workers at Warren Family Dental in Howland, Ohio, who normally play Mega Millions, won a $15 million jackpot when they mistakenly bought a Super Lotto ticket.
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New tri-state lottery game to go on sale Sunday. Declining sales have prompted lottery officials from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to replace the Tri-State Heads or Tails game.
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Anti-lottery group will file lawsuit against Mega Millions in Calif.. The California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion will file a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court within two weeks seeking an injunction to shut down the state's Mega Millions multistate lotto as unconstitutional, it said Thursday.
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Middle Georgians have mixed feelings about California joining lottery. While Mega Millions players outside of California will enjoy the bigger jackpots, they are worried that the longer odds of the new Mega Millions game matrix will lessen the chance of a winner in their state.
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Mega Millions fuels California lottery sales record. Californians jumped on the chance to join a multistate lottery by purchasing a record $2.4 million on the first day of sales for the Mega Millions game, state lottery officials said Thursday.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
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Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday Powerball drawing, but 7 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Arizona, 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Missouri, 2 from Pennsylvania, 1 from South Carolina and 1 from Wisconsin. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
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Californians snap up tickets for new Mega Millions lottery game. Californians dished out their first dollars Wednesday on a multistate lottery that has paid record jackpots as high as $363 million.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
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CA Lottery spars with legislator over Mega Millions legality. California lottery officials told a Senate committee Tuesday that they had the power to join the multistate Mega Millions lotto game even though the authorization wasn't spelled out in the 1984 initiative that set up the lottery.
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Odds longer, prizes bigger as California joins Mega Millions. The odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery game got a bit longer on Wednesday, but the prizes also got sweeter.
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Mega Millions lottery goes on sale in California. Today, 35 million Californians get their first chance to buy a ticket on what may become the biggest lottery jackpot ever offered -- but the odds of winning a fortune are the longest ever seen.
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 2 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Georgia and 1 from New York. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
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Lottery numbers company ordered to refund customers. A Buffalo, New York, company that claims to sell booklets of "winning" lottery numbers must make full refunds to any Iowa consumer who requests a refund, and the company has been permanently prohibited from selling any goods or services in Iowa.
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N.C. lottery talk building to a climax. With passage of a $17.1 billion budget bill by the North Carolina House of Representatives last week, the lottery debate is heating up in North Carolina.
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A lottery for those bored by mini millions. Come Friday, California residents will no longer have to endure wimpy, yawn-producing California SuperLotto Plus jackpots that start at $7 million.
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Georgia lottery ticket hits $9M Lotto South jackpot. A ticket sold in Georgia matched all six numbers in Saturday night's $9 million Lotto South drawing, lottery officials said Sunday.
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New Minnesota lottery director brings fresh start. Clint Harris, the new Minnesota Lottery Director, brings his experience from South Dakota to implement a leaner, meaner lottery operation.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
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Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday Powerball drawing, but 86 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 6 from Arizona, 4 from Connecticut (2 with Power Play), 4 from Washington, D.C., 1 from Delaware (1 with Power Play), 2 from Idaho, 3 from Indiana, 3 from Kansas, 5 from Kentucky, 4 from Louisiana (1 with Power Play), 1 from Minnesota, 2 from Missouri, 1 from Montana, 1 from Nebraska, 5 from New Hampshire, 1 from New Mexico, 7 from Pennsylvania (2 with Power Play), 6 from Rhode Island (1 with Power Play), 10 from South Carolina (6 with Power Play), 1 from South Dakota, 8 from Tennessee (1 with Power Play), 1 from Vermont, 5 from Wisconsin and 5 from West Virginia. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday Mega Millions drawing, but 2 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Maryland and 1 from Ohio. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Friday, June 17, 2005
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Unclaimed UK Lottery Prizes Soar to £100m Record. Unclaimed UK National Lottery prize money rose to a record £100 million (US$182 million) last year, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport confirmed today.
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N.C. lottery still in limbo as budget talks continue. North Carolina Governor Mike Easley kicked off budget negotiations with House and Senate leaders by pushing for an aggressively advertised lottery that he would clearly control.
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Texas Pick 3 lottery game experiences sales glitch. The Texas Lottery Commission suspended sales of tickets for its Pick 3 game Thursday night after the lottery operator said there was a computer code problem associated with the game.
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Democrats trying to ruin Calif. Mega Millions lottery participation. Democrat lawmakers in California will convene an emergency hearing on what their attorneys call Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's illegal linking of California with the multi-state Mega Millions lottery game.
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Idaho Lottery insists that Powerball winner reveal identity. The 33-year-old Idaho man who won a $220.3 million Powerball lottery jackpot Memorial Day weekend came out of hiding Thursday after the Idaho Lottery refused his request for anonymity.
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$220M lottery winner wants to be billionaire. A man who won a $220.3 million Powerball lottery jackpot - the second-largest single-ticket Powerball winning - plans to invest the money and become a billionaire.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
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Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday Powerball drawing, but 5 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Idaho, 1 from Kansas, 1 from Minnesota and 2 from Tennessee. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
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Oklahoma Lottery Director given approval to hire, set up offices. Oklahoma's lottery director was given authority Tuesday to hire employees and to move ahead with plans to design and renovate the lottery's offices.
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Delaware bill would legalize sports gambling. A bill was introduced in the Delaware General Assembly May 31 that, if passed, would allow sports gambling in Delaware — making it the only state east of the Mississippi where sports wagering would be legal.
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Lottery Phone Scam Continues to Snare Victims. It can be so easy to get pulled into the trap of a lottery phone scam, in which victims are enticed to send them a few thousand dollars to cover the taxes and you rake in hundreds of thousands.
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Investment banker cashes in $9.3 million winning Oregon lottery ticket. A Seattle investment banker who wants to keep working in spite of his good fortune has cashed the winning $9.3 million Lotto jackpot ticket for Saturday night's drawing.
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California could be golden for 12-state Mega Millions. At Bluebird Liquors in Hawthorne, California, where there's almost always a line to buy lottery tickets, owner Frank Kumamoto is eagerly awaiting California's entry into the multistate Mega Millions game. So are his regular customers.
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Lawyer thinks Calif. participation in Mega Millions is illegal. According to one legislative lawyer, California's much-heralded entrance into the 11-state Mega Millions lottery may be illegal, even as outlets around the state prepare for the debut of the popular game.
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 1 lucky player matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from New Jersey. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
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Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday Powerball drawing, but 6 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Colorado, 1 from Iowa, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Louisiana, 1 from New Mexico and 1 from Tennessee (1 with Power Play). For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
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Maryland Lottery a case study in the science of random numbers. The Maryland Lottery provides a good example of why true lottery ball machines are much better than a computerized drawing for choosing lottery numbers.
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday Mega Millions drawing, but 5 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Maryland, 2 from New York, 1 from Texas and 1 from Virginia. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
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Oklahoma lottery commission urged to keep moving. After hearing his new bosses debate the definition of rules to govern the newest state agency, Oklahoma's lottery director issued them a gentle reminder to keep moving, if they want to meet their startup schedule.
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Ticket machines on display for Oklahoma Lottery. On Wednesday, business owners who will comprise Oklahoma's main lottery ticket sellers filed the required applications and got a gander at the machinery that will be used to sell Oklahoma lottery tickets.
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Handyman wins Florida Lotto jackpot. A 43-year-old Florida handyman claimed an estimated $12 million Florida Lotto jackpot this week, choosing to take the prize as a lump-sum cash payment of $7.6 million.
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Texas Lottery accused of over-inflating jackpots. The Texas Attorney General's Office will investigate accusations that the Texas Lottery Commission is inflating advertised Lotto jackpots.
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Oklahoma Lottery hires sales director from Atlanta. The Oklahoma Lottery Commission hired three administrators Wednesday, one of them from Atlanta, to help new executive director James R. Scroggins get the state's education lottery up and running by October.
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Unclaimed lottery winnings scam targets elderly. Oregon State Police plan to announce today that they are investigating a scam targeting the elderly that promises large unclaimed lottery winnings from two fictitious Salem companies.
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Powerball: There were no jackpot winners and no $100,000 winners in the Wednesday Powerball drawing. For the complete rundown of winners in each of the other prize categories, see the Ways to Win page.
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Georgia, 1 from Illinois and 1 from New York. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
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Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday Powerball drawing, but 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Iowa and 1 from Louisiana. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Saturday, June 4, 2005
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Mega Millions Jackpot Winner! There was one $106 million jackpot winner from Ohio in the Friday, June 03, 2005 Mega Millions drawing. More details to follow after the winner comes forward to claim their prize.
Also, 14 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 3 from Illinois, 2 from New Jersey, 6 from New York, 1 from Texas, 1 from Virginia and 1 from Washington. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Thursday, June 2, 2005
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Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday Powerball drawing, but 5 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Missouri, 1 from Pennsylvania, 2 from South Carolina and 1 from Wisconsin. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
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Pair will testify against former Hoosier Lottery official. Two men linked to a scandal at the Hoosier Lottery have agreed to testify against a former security officer accused of rigging a $1 million scratch-off game.
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Powerball lottery to implement changes. Sales for a new, enhanced version of the Powerball multi-state lottery game will begin on Sunday, August 28.
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Jackpot lottery ticket: dying man's final gift. A woman who bought a lottery ticket at the urging of her dying father won almost $1 million the day he passed away.
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Boise man claims $220.3 million lottery jackpot. A Boise man in his thirties who had been playing the same numbers the past four years has come forward with the $220.3 million winning Powerball ticket, a record jackpot for the state.
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Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 5 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Illinois, 1 from Massachusetts, 2 from Michigan and 1 from New York. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.