Pennsylvania has officially launched an investigation into frequent lotto wins within the state. The investigation is being carried out by the Office of the Auditor General. The investigation comes hot on the heels of a report published by PennLive, which seemed to indicate that some players were winning the lotto too often.
Frequent Lotto Wins Could be Criminal
The article from PennLive discovered that between 2000 and 2016, there were over 200 people in Pennsylvania that had each won 50 or more times. On top of this, these wins had all been $600 or more. Having so many different players win $600+ 50 times or more is highly improbable. The Office of the Auditor General has started looking into this, to see if there is an explanation.
Typically, when there are improbable lotto wins like this, there tends to be a sinister explanation. Normally, there is some criminal activity going on. This can include a store stealing winning tickets from customers, cheating, or some form of fraud. One of the most common forms is called discounting. This is where a winner sells their ticket to a third-party, instead of cashing it in themselves. They do this because many states will take outstanding taxes or child support from a lotto win.
Luckiest Lotto Winner
Pennsylvania is certainly not the only state that has cause to look into frequent winners. Perhaps the luckiest lotto winner of all time is from Massachusetts. The man in question has cashed in over 7300 winning tickets, worth nearly $11 million. There is certainly no evidence that he has done anything wrong, but this is nearly statistically impossible.
The Pennsylvania Office of the Auditor General will begin investigating the claims made by PennLive. It will be interesting to see what they wind in the coming weeks and months. PennLive also raised concerns that many states in the USA do not do enough to track frequent winners. PennLive revealed that ten states that run lotteries do not monitor winning patterns at all. This could mean they have no idea if some individuals are managing to win too often.
