Man Steals $10 Million Lottery Ticket from Friend
January 18th 2019 12:08
In a bizarre case of lottery ticket fraud that proves that some people will do anything for money, a man in California, USA was arrested after trying to claim the winnings from a scratch card worth $10 million. Only the Scratcher Lottery Ticket was not his own, but his friend and roommate’s ticket, who he had stolen the winning ticket from!
Police from Vacaville arrested Adul Saosongyang on Monday on charges of grand theft after Adul’s friend reported his winning lottery ticket stolen and immediately (and correctly) suspected Adul. The friend, who is staying anonymous, bought the lottery ticket for $30 over the Christmas period in 2018. When he found out that he had won what he thought was $10,000 he told his flatmate his news, and then travelled to the lottery office in Sacramento to verify his ticket and claim his prize.
That is when things turned a bit strange because the lottery officials examined his ticket and informed him that his ticket had been fraudulently tampered with and was not the winning ticket. When the roommate returned home he went back to the grocery store where he had purchased his ticket to find out what was happening, only to find out that the winning prize was not the $10,000 he initially thought he had won, but rather, a massive jackpot of $10 million!
He then reported the theft to the police, who then planned a sting operation with the lottery officials, which resulted in Adul being arrested for grand theft while attempting to claim the winnings from the stolen lottery ticket. Police informed the public via their Facebook page that “instead of him celebrating his big win he was arrested by Vacaville PD Detectives who had obtained an arrest warrant for him for Grand Theft.” The California Lottery is now verifying the identity of the winner of the $10 million ticket.
Indian GST Meeting Postponed
The Indian Goods and Service Tax Council has just deferred a planned decision on the rate of taxes applicable to lotteries. It was tabled in to discuss lower the current rate from 28% on January 10th, but that decision has now been postponed while the council considers “diverse opinions” on the subject. A group of ministers are planning on studying the tax rate on lotteries before the next council meeting. The issue revolves around state lotteries paying only 12% GST while private lottery companies are meant to pay 28%. This has resulted in many private distributors of lottery tickets disputing or avoiding paying the higher rate, which has recently resulted in many arrests for tax avoidance as well as many underground and illegal lottery rings operating in India.
Global Lotteries
As January gets well underway in 2019 we have a UK Lottery double rollover take the jackpot to £7.3 million. The EuroMillions continues to swell its prize fund as well as it reaches €60 million. Over in the United States, we have the Powerball hitting triple figures with a substantial $129 million to win, while the Mega Millions lottery jackpot is at a very healthy $68 million.
Written by Andrew Thomas