SACRAMENTO – In its ongoing consumer protection effort, the California Lottery through its Law Enforcement Division has arrested one person and a second person surrendered to authorities in connection with a sting in Morgan Hill.
In this case, the Lottery in conjunction with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office charged one retailer and one additional individual with the attempted grand theft of Lottery tickets ranging in value from $500 to $25,000.
“While we believe these crimes involve only a small number of our 20,000 authorized retailers,” said California Lottery Director Joan Borucki, “we demand that all our retailers be fair and honest.”
Typically, undercover agents posing as customers were either not paid the prize for their winning ticket or not paid the full amount of their prize. One of the suspects then went on to file a claim with the Lottery as if the winning tickets were theirs or conspired with others to collect the full value of the winning tickets.
“The Lottery will not tolerate those who deceive our players and attack the integrity of Lottery games,” said Borucki. “This enforcement effort is ongoing and we will not stop as long as some try to abuse those who play Lottery games.”
This consumer protection undercover operation is the first of its kind in the country for Lottery products. Suspects face felony charges and punishment including possible fines and incarceration in state prison. In addition, the contract each suspect had with the Lottery to act as an authorized retailer of Lottery products was immediately terminated.
The California Lottery has the largest force of sworn peace officers of any Lottery in the nation, stationed throughout the state at the Lottery’s nine District Offices and its Headquarters in Sacramento.
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 more than $20 billion to California schools out of total sales of nearly $55 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.5 billion in compensation since 1985.