# Lottery Addict Embezzles $2.3mil, Screams At Judge **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 27, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384 "2006-09-27T16:43:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/41 "2006-09-28T15:51:56Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] Or you can daydream that you will find the winning ticket in the street (the odds of that are probably not that much worse than actually buying a winning ticket.) [/QUOTE] In my state, someone claimed that she always played the same numbers, but she just happened to lose the winning ticket the week it won with a large paymout. She threatened to take the winner to court to get her share of the ticket. The whole thing was totally bogus, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/42 "2006-09-28T16:02:02Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] Or you can daydream that you will find the winning ticket in the street [/QUOTE] Oh, be realistic. I prefer fantasies about the Jessicas Biel, Alba, and Simpson showing up naked on my front porch with a gallon jug of Astroglide. Have to stay _somewhere_ close to the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/43 "2006-09-28T16:16:57Z")
That’s why you should never buy more than one ticket. The chancfe of you winning is so infinitesimally small that for all effects and purposes, it equals zero. Zero times two, zero times three, zero times 20 is still zero. You’re not improving your odds by buying another one. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/44 "2006-09-28T16:30:05Z")
Was she really addicted, or was this a low return money laundering scheme? If she stole money and put into her account it could be traced, but using it to buy lottery tickets and only putting winnings into her account would launder the money quite well. (though at around 75% loss, or whatever the Lottery probability rates are set at). ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/45 "2006-09-28T18:53:39Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Oh, be realistic. I prefer fantasies about the Jessicas Biel, Alba, and Simpson showing up naked on my front porch with a gallon jug of Astroglide. Have to stay _somewhere_ close to the real world. [/QUOTE] We all need Heroes. This week, you’re mine. That’s filthy yet brilliant- an amazing combination !!! I too slide a dollar here and there for a MegaMillions or NY Lotto ticket. Esp. if I happen to find a parking spot in the city. That’s 25.00-32.00 I haven't spent that day. Do I spend that much? Naw, never. Maybe, when the ticket is insanely hot ( 190 Mil is serious fuck-you money even in a lump sum single payment check ), I might spend five dollah. Otherwise, a dollar here, a dollar there, tons of fun daydreaming. High on my list? Buy the largest set of servers available to non-military institutions and donate them to the Chicago Reader. 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/46 "2006-09-28T22:13:04Z")
I haven’t read the whole thread, but I have to be on campus soon and I thought I would throw in my .02 really quick. If this part has already been addressed, I’m sorry. In my state, there are $1, $2, $3, $5, $10, and $20 scratch-offs, as well as mega-millions and “Lot’O Play” (ugh, what a ridiculous concept…) I worked at a convenience store and yes, it is very possible to spend several thousand in one day. I saw this happen quite often, and it is through checks. The owner of the store said when I started, “never take checks for lotto, they are always bad, but if it’s Larry, and he’s wanting to play, go for it. His checks have always been good, and I know him well.” Larry wrote many checks. Usually about $50 at a time, one every 20 minutes, and he stayed around for hours. He would be in the store at least 4 days a week. He also always had money to back it up though, his wife paid all the bills (they owned their house and everything, so no rent) and he worked part-time but was retired from the railroad and had a ton of money. There were also other “big” players, even people who we weren’t sure could afford it…(possibly drug dealers)…and it was a little ridiculous. Given, I don’t know how someone embezzles 2.3 million in lottery, but over time, I could see that. Also, there were many times when people would come in after winning big on some ticket, and purchase a roll or two. I remember that most rolls were 200 tickets ($1 + $2 tickets) but the more expensive ones were different. The 5 and 10 dollar tickets held 50 per roll and the 20 dollar tickets were 25 per roll. The largest order I ever had was right after Thanksgiving, a woman bought 4 rolls of $20 tickets and maybe 3 rolls of $1 tickets. It must be very possible to spend up to 6k on tickets, if you buy a ton at once. Brendon ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/47 "2006-09-28T22:31:21Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] High on my list? Buy the largest set of servers available to non-military institutions and donate them to the Chicago Reader. 😃 Cartooniverse [/QUOTE] Spend it on the Jessica’s [Technical Issues for Posting](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7698901&postcount=5) > [@](#): > > **Q** : I get a lot of enjoyment out of the SDMB and would like to contribute financially to my host in some way. > > **A** : You can always Buy Straight Dope Stuff. If you already own all the Straight Dope items, you could buy some more and give them away to friends / local libraries / high schools etc. Because the SDMB is owned by the CHICAGO READER, we are unable to accept contributions (there’s adverse tax implications.) But thanks for the thought. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/48 "2006-09-28T23:17:42Z")
Isn’t there a chance that it actually will help her? Unless prisoners can buy lottery tickets, ISTM that being in prison will help by removing the source of her addiction and giving her a chance to get some perspective. Maybe that would give her a better chance of getting past her addiction. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/49 "2006-09-28T23:22:47Z")
Well he could buy truckloads of merchandise. Or spend some serious bucks advertising, I don’t know, something. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/50 "2006-09-28T23:42:05Z")
[QUOTE=Talon Karrde] Isn’t there a chance that it actually will help her? Unless prisoners can buy lottery tickets, ISTM that being in prison will help by removing the source of her addiction and giving her a chance to get some perspective. Maybe that would give her a better chance of getting past her addiction. [/QUOTE] That’s what is called “forced remission”. Unless the person wants to deal with the problem, and gets access to some form of treatment, the most likely thing is that the person will go back to the behavior (alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, whatever) once the constraints are off. You’d be amazed how many folks get paroled out of prison, on the condition that they don’t drink alcohol or do drugs. They know full well that if they drink or do drugs, and get caught at it, they get to go back for a month or a year or a decade. And still they drink and/or do drugs and can’t understand why they’re back in prison. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/51 "2006-09-28T23:48:58Z")
I figured something out awhile back. You can’t win the lottery, unless you play. but you also can’t lose. This lady sounds charming. I don’t see where anyone is claiming that she should not go to prison or be punished, **D-odds**. I heard on the radio about 15 years ago, about a guy in Wisconsin who had won the lottery and then lost all his money from that win–and he wanted a program to be provided by the lottery folks for people who had won the lottery and who didn’t know how to handle money. Now, I call that ballsy… ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/52 "2006-09-29T01:01:58Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] I figured something out awhile back. You can’t win the lottery, unless you play. but you also can’t lose. This lady sounds charming. I don’t see where anyone is claiming that she should not go to prison or be punished, **D-odds**. I heard on the radio about 15 years ago, about a guy in Wisconsin who had won the lottery and then lost all his money from that win–and he wanted a program to be provided by the lottery folks for people who had won the lottery and who didn’t know how to handle money. Now, I call that ballsy… [/QUOTE] Then we have the NJ guy (cannot for the life of me remember his name, but he always wore a hat & had a fly car) who won huge lotteris _twice_ and spent every last dime of them both. Had a great time doing it, too - I remember a picture of him posing with his wife _and_ his girlfriend. 😃 VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/53 "2006-09-29T03:11:07Z")
There was one woman who worked for University of California at Davis. Her job was as supervisor in one of the accounting sections. Well, she embezzled so much money there’s no teling how much she stole. She spent the money on gambling at one of the Reservations near Davis. Yep, she’s in jail. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/54 "2006-09-29T12:18:33Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] That’s what is called “forced remission”. Unless the person wants to deal with the problem, and gets access to some form of treatment, the most likely thing is that the person will go back to the behavior (alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, whatever) once the constraints are off. You’d be amazed how many folks get paroled out of prison, on the condition that they don’t drink alcohol or do drugs. They know full well that if they drink or do drugs, and get caught at it, they get to go back for a month or a year or a decade. And still they drink and/or do drugs and can’t understand why they’re back in prison. [/QUOTE] Exhibit A: Mary Ka Latourne ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/55 "2006-09-29T12:39:22Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] This lady sounds charming. I don’t see where anyone is claiming that she should not go to prison or be punished, **D-odds**. [/QUOTE] The embezzeler was claiming she should not go to prison. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/56 "2006-09-29T13:32:22Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] The embezzeler was claiming she should not go to prison. [/QUOTE] Oh-sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you meant that some here on the SDMB would say she needs therapy instead of prison. IMO, she needs both-but having had some lovely experiences with addicted peoples (why, no, I’m not bitter…), I know full well that most of them do not want to change, don’t understand why there is need to change and merely wait out the prison/rehab/mandatory counselling to go be addicted again, so prison is good. Now, if she wanted to change, had sorrow and remorse over what she did and could make some attempt at some type of restitution (charity work or community service or hell, tithe, garnishee (sp?) her paycheck, whatever), then I plump for therapy. As it stands, prison is good. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/57 "2006-09-29T13:58:17Z")
eleanorigby writes: \> I heard on the radio about 15 years ago, about a guy in Wisconsin who had \> won the lottery and then lost all his money from that win–and he wanted a \> program to be provided by the lottery folks for people who had won the lottery \> and who didn’t know how to handle money. Now, I call that ballsy… It’s actually quite common for moderately big (say, half a million dollars to five million dollars) winners to spend everything fairly quickly. (If you ask for it in one big payment rather than spread out over 20 to 40 years, the payment is about half as much). Even the huge winners, who get so much money it would be quite difficult to spend it all, often manage to screw up their lives and the lives of everyone else they know. Consider the case of Jack Whittaker: > **[Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Whittaker_(lottery_winner))** > > Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr. (October 9, 1947 – June 27, 2020) was an American businessman in the construction industry. He was noted for being the winner of a 2002 lottery jackpot. His win of US$314.9 million in the Powerball multi-state lottery was, at the time, the largest jackpot ever won by a single winning ticket in the history of American lottery. After winning the lottery, he was proximate to a number of crimes, and experienced several personal tragedies. > Before his lottery win, Whitta... ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/58 "2006-09-29T13:59:34Z")
Would someone please fix that link? The final parenthesis should be inside the link. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/59 "2006-09-29T15:21:48Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] It’s actually quite common for moderately big (say, half a million dollars to five million dollars) winners to spend everything fairly quickly. (If you ask for it in one big payment rather than spread out over 20 to 40 years, the payment is about half as much). [/QUOTE] If any of us are that lucky, I suggest _strongly_ to put about 1/3 of your winnings (after taxes) into an Annuity or two. Thus, after you blow it all, you still have a nice monthly income for the rest of your life. ---
**Author:** ![BigDaddyPete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@BigDaddyPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDaddyPete)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384/60 "2006-09-29T16:14:42Z")
The people that play the lotto habitually are just frightening. I had a customer who would come in and play for hours on the scratch tickets. He would literally push other customers out of the way to get to the register to buy more tickets. I had lots of people who would easily spend $1000 a day on tickets, and never win. I did sell one regular a couple of winners. He had one that was for $1000 and the next one was $10,000. He gave me the $1000 as a tip. That was nice, but he was in every day for years. The worst I saw though was a guy who actually worked the night shift for us. He stole thousands of dollars worth of tickets, and covered the sale by not ringing in other cash transactions and putting the cash in the lottery fund. In CT we had to keep it seperate. When we got a new accountant, he was quickly caught because the sales didn’t add up. He won enough, with no cost outlay, to buy a car and pay for college. Of course, that colllege education doesn’t help him too much while serving 5 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-addict-embezzles-2-3mil-screams-at-judge/374384.md?page=4)