SACRAMENTO – As part of its effort to protect consumers, the California Lottery’s Security/Law Enforcement Division has arrested 9 people working at various retail locations in Santa Clara County and issued an arrest warrant for one additional suspect.
In each of the cases the Lottery, in conjunction with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, arrested retailers or store clerks for the grand theft of winning Lottery tickets. All the suspects were accused of cheating Lottery customers.
“While these crimes involve only a small number of our more than 20,000 authorized retailers, we demand that all our retailers be fair and honest,” California Lottery Director Joan Borucki said. “The Lottery will not tolerate those who deceive our players and compromise the integrity of Lottery games.”
In the Santa Clara County operation, undercover investigators posing as customers handed clerks decoy winning tickets and asked if they had won. In some instances, the clerks told the investigators that their ticket was not a winner. The suspects then went on to file a claim with the Lottery as if the winning tickets were theirs.
Suspects face felony charges and punishment including possible fines and incarceration in state prison.
The California Lottery is a leader in consumer protection. It has one of the largest forces of sworn peace officers of any Lottery in the nation.
More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed nearly $21 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $56 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.6 billion in compensation since 1985.