RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Virginia Lottery says it’s taking action to identify or stop potential fraud among ticket retailers.
Policy changes announced this week by lottery Director Kevin Hall follows a recent report by The Virginian-Pilot that found over 90 people had won on at least 50 tickets worth $600 or more between 2008 and 2016.
The story focused on whether the ticket redemption process could be manipulated, pointing out some players collected prizes with frequency that seemed to defy odds. The newspaper reported a top winner won most often at a store he owns.
Lottery officials told the paper they would start regularly analyzing frequent-winner data and now ask winners on claim forms about any retailer connections. Lottery spokesman John Hagerty says the updated form already has led to 16 ongoing investigations.
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