August Lottery Buzz

By Andrea O'Neill

Lottery on TV

Hollywood, CA - NBC is set to launch its drama series called Windfall, inspired by the lottery. The drama is about a group of 19 friends who share a winning lottery ticket for $386 million. NBC president of entertainment Kevin Reilly says, "With its dueling themes of dreams coming true and 'be careful what you wish for,' Windfall is both fun and provocative."

Lottery Scam

It started with one suspect and a fake lottery ticket and ended with a Bakersfield woman being scammed out of $15,000. The suspect approached the victim at a local food store, saying he had a winning lottery ticket, but was unable to redeem it because he was in the U.S. illegally.

A second suspect joined the scam, convincing the woman that the first person was telling the truth. Authorities said the men told the victim she could keep the ticket if she gave them $15,000 in good faith. The suspects even contacted what the woman thought was a lottery office to verify the ticket.

The suspects finally told the woman they need notarized papers to document the transaction, but when walking toward an Office Max on Ming Avenue, the men grabbed the money and ran. The victim said she was saving the money to buy her husband a new work truck.

Winning with Losers

A program for recycling non-winning lottery tickets is paying off big for Westboro, Mass.-based recycler E.L. Harvey & Sons and the Massachusetts State Lottery.

"Instant Re-Play," the lottery's anti-litter program that rewards individuals who collect and recycle non-winning instant or scratch tickets, has yielded 50 tons of tickets.

The recycled tickets are converted into paper goods, such as tissue, toilet paper and napkins. An Earth Day collection on the Esplanade in Boston yielded eight tons of instant tickets in just five hours, while a June 28 collection at lottery headquarters in Braintree, Mass., resulted in the collection of 16 tons in five hours, according to a release from E.L. Harvey & Sons.

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