A jackpot-rigging scandal is forgotten as Powerball fever sweeps the United States
The jackpot-fixing scandal that rocked the lottery organization behind Powerball has done little to hold back interest in the game.
In fact, with the jackpot soaring to record-breaking levels — it rose to $900 million Saturday morning, the biggest lottery prize in U.S. history — Powerball hysteria is sweeping the United States.
Stores across the country have sold more tickets and are seeing much longer lines than usual before Saturday’s drawing, according to various localreportsthroughouttheweek.
“Sales,” a California State Lottery spokesman said, “are going crazy right now.”
“They’ve gone through the roof,” Ohio Lottery spokeswoman said.
The Virginia Lottery alone expects to sell 6.9 million Powerball tickets on Saturday, a spokesman told The Washington Post, adding that during peak times — between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. — the commonwealth probably will sell tickets at a rate of 13,800 per minute.
Powerball sales are soaring despite a scandal that rocked the organization that runs the game — a five-year-old investigation into jackpot fixing in one state that grew to include at least four others.
In the end, a Multi-State Lottery Association security expert was convicted of fraud and sentenced to a decade in prison, and the man who had run Powerball since it began was quietly put on leave.
Here’s a rundown of the scandal that has been all but forgotten in the wake of Powerball fever.
What caused suspicion
In December 2010, a man walked into a Quik Trip convenience store on Des Moines’ north side and bought what would become the winning ticket in a Hot Lotto draw with a $16.5 million jackpot, according to court documents.
The prize was unclaimed for nearly a year. In November 2011, a Canadian man contacted the Iowa Lottery claiming to be the winner. A month later, he said he was not the winner himself, but represented the anonymous winner. Later that month, a New York lawyer came forward to claim the prize for a Belize-based trust. No one involved could provide the basic details of the winner, information required by Iowa law. Eventually, the attorney withdrew the claim to the jackpot and the money went back to the states where the tickets were sold.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-jackpot-rigging-scandal-is-forgotten-as-powerball-fever-sweeps-the-united-states/ar-CCkww5?li=BBnb7Kz