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'Big Winner' collects Lotto prize after alleged clerk caper foiled [ Clerks do lie ]
Sept 17 2010 | MSNBC

Posted on 09/17/2010 11:33:21 PM PDT by NoLibZone

NEW YORK — A retired New York transit worker is a big winner, but it took some detective work to find out just how big.

$14 million, it turns out.

The New York Lottery on Friday revealed the tale of Milledge McCassell, 72, of Laurelton, in hope of delivering a moral to the story.

McCassell on Aug. 26 took unsigned tickets he bought a day earlier to the Dynasty Deli and Grocery in Jamaica, Queens, to check for possible prizes.

He checked them himself on a store scanner, which for one ticket flashed "Big Winner."

“I knew it was a big prize winner,” McCassell said. “I just didn’t know how much.”

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McCassell took the ticket to the store clerk, who allegedly scanned the ticket and told McCassell it was no big deal.

McCassell tried to get the clerk to return the ticket, but he was told it had already been tossed or lost.

He left the store empty handed to get help.

“I knew something wasn’t right so the next day, I went to another retailer I trusted and together, we called the Lottery to file a complaint."

The trusted retailer, according to the New York Post, was Hussein Mesed, owner of the Ideal Stop, Dairy and Grill in Laurelton.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: lottery; lotto
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1 posted on 09/17/2010 11:33:27 PM PDT by NoLibZone
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To: NoLibZone

Watch and see just how often stores swap tickets and tell you they didnt.
And

Some just help winners avoid taxes.


2 posted on 09/17/2010 11:34:53 PM PDT by NoLibZone (Communities regularly fight the construction projects, Walmarts Starbucks and even tree removal.)
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To: NoLibZone

For a minute, I thought he had won a nuclear bomb.


3 posted on 09/17/2010 11:50:15 PM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (REPEAL OR REBEL! -- Islam Delenda Est! -- I Want Constantinople Back. -- Rumble thee forth.)
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To: NoLibZone
The New York Lottery authority pulled all of their Gear and Tickets out of the offending store. If I were the owner I would consider pulling all of his projected potential Lottery revenues out of the hide of that clerk, starting with the bounty he should have received for selling a "Big Winner" ticket. He probably will not collect much from a person in prison for attempted fraud though.

It might also be noted that a person with a Muslim sounding name helped the old man make it right. Props where due I guess.

4 posted on 09/17/2010 11:51:20 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: NoLibZone

That’s it? There’s no link and there’s 2 different stories and then it ends with the trusted retailer’s name. Hmmm I like more details like...what happened next and how and so forth.


5 posted on 09/17/2010 11:54:13 PM PDT by Outlaw Woman (Extremism in defense of Liberty is sometimes necessary...)
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To: Outlaw Woman

link...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39239331/ns/us_news-wonderful_world/


6 posted on 09/17/2010 11:57:02 PM PDT by deks ("...the battle of our time is the battle of liberty against the overreach of the federal government")
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To: deks

tanks :)


7 posted on 09/17/2010 11:58:49 PM PDT by Outlaw Woman (Extremism in defense of Liberty is sometimes necessary...)
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To: Outlaw Woman
I scrolled down to the video and found this interesting tidbit...

"In an investigation into state lotteries, Dateline NBC looked at a list of the most frequent winners in eight states. In almost every case, lottery retailers — or their relatives — were among the top winners. Why?"

8 posted on 09/18/2010 12:01:06 AM PDT by deks ("...the battle of our time is the battle of liberty against the overreach of the federal government")
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To: deks

Well that is interesting. Did it say anything about investigating the parties?? Sounds criminal to me but who knows.


9 posted on 09/18/2010 12:05:24 AM PDT by Outlaw Woman (Extremism in defense of Liberty is sometimes necessary...)
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To: NoLibZone

In an investigation into state lotteries, Dateline NBC looked at a list of the most frequent winners in eight states. In almost every case, lottery retailers — or their relatives — were among the top winners.


10 posted on 09/18/2010 12:06:28 AM PDT by The SISU kid (I feel really homesick all the time & so do all the other aliens.....)
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To: The SISU kid

Right.

The clerks were winning frequently.

Some had hit the nbsr 50 times in a few years time.

Don’t hand your ticket to them to check.


11 posted on 09/18/2010 12:16:20 AM PDT by NoLibZone (Communities regularly fight the construction projects, Walmarts Starbucks and even tree removal.)
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To: NoLibZone
The trusted retailer, according to the New York Post, was Hussein Mesed... I don't think Hussein is so trusted anymore... Why is it people with the name Hussein are such a problem (Like the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave)
12 posted on 09/18/2010 12:33:50 AM PDT by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
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To: BigEdLB

Hussein was the guy that the old fellow went to after the other clerk took his ticket.


13 posted on 09/18/2010 12:53:00 AM PDT by Textide
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To: Outlaw Woman

geeze I alway check my own tickets...biggest I ever got was 100 dollars....trust but verify said by some great president.....


14 posted on 09/18/2010 1:12:15 AM PDT by goat granny
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: NoLibZone

This Hussein is more qualified than the one in the White House.


16 posted on 09/18/2010 1:25:41 AM PDT by scott7278 ("...I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked." BHO)
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To: NoLibZone

Something similar happened in Texas not too long ago. Customer knew he had a winning ticket, but he didn’t know how much he had won. Handed the ticket to the clerk, was told he won a couple of bucks, and the customer took the cash and left. Clerk takes the big winning ticket, signs it, goes to Austin and collects several million. Store clerk then leaves the country.

Well, during this time, the customer becomes suspicious. Checks his numbers on line, and realizes that he had the big winning ticket. Gets a lawyer and they sue the Texas lottery. They claim the state is responsible because the store clerks are defacto representatives of the state lottery.

I don’t recall how it all turned out. I know the courts froze the store clerk’s bank account that still had some of the lottery winnings. But the customer was still going after the state for the rest of the winnings.

Lesson to those that play the lottery...NEVER, EVER, hand an un-signed lottery ticket to anybody...especially a store clerk. Not all are crooks, but the temptation is just too great, even if the ticket is only worth 50 bucks.


17 posted on 09/18/2010 2:04:29 AM PDT by unbiasedtruth
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To: higgmeister

“It might also be noted that a person with a Muslim sounding name helped the old man make it right. Props where due I guess.”

I guess you didn’t read the whole article. The Deli that tried to steal the ticket is owned by a Muslim sounding named person. They threw reporters out of their store.


18 posted on 09/18/2010 2:32:50 AM PDT by nikos1121 (Praying today for -25, better yet -26......)
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To: NoLibZone

I’m just curious as to why the self-check machines don’t tell you the exact amount so you can verify it against the clerks machine.


19 posted on 09/18/2010 2:34:39 AM PDT by bjorn14 (Woe to those who call good evil and evil good. Isaiah 5:20)
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To: deks

“In an investigation into state lotteries, Dateline NBC looked at a list of the most frequent winners in eight states. In almost every case, lottery retailers — or their relatives — were among the top winners. Why?”

Amazing.

It could only be because they’re taking the tickets from the poor old uneducated people who buy them, and then bring them back in like this old man to have them scanned for them and instead got scammed themselves instead.

Statistically, what else could it possibly be?

Do you think they’re going to do anything about it?

Or do you think they’re going to continue justice they have so far, letting the scammy owners in their scuzzy convenience stores rip off the poor people and cheat the poor people?


20 posted on 09/18/2010 3:08:16 AM PDT by DontTreadOnMe2009 (So stop treading on me already!)
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