Two Men arrested for Lottery Fraud In Mississippi

Law enforcement in Mississippi claimed that two men tried to scam the state lottery commission by submitting a losing ticket, which had the right numbers glued to it.

Russell Sparks, 48, and Odis Latham, 47, were arrested on Monday and charged with offenses including uttering a counterfeit instrument over 1000 dollars.

The state lottery commission proceeded to call the Flowood police department concerning the fake ticket submitted that morning.

Sergeant Adam Nelson claimed the police were told the suspects presented a tampered $100,000 ticket, which seemed to have the winning numbers glued on to it.

The ticket was signed and presented so that payment would be issued to the men. The lottery corporation did not return requests for comment on the matter.

Latham was also charged with false identification information.
The two men have since pleaded not guilty to the charges presented against them and are being held at the Rankin County jail.

Latham is being held on a $51,000 bond while Sparks is being held on a $20,000 bond. Sparks is supposed to appear in court on Thursday though it is unclear whether the two of them had legal representation.

Lottery tickets have only been on sale in the state of Mississippi for six weeks.

Scratch off lottery tickets went on sale on November 25th with the Powerball and Mega million lottery tickets set to be on sale from January 20th.

There are 1,200 retailers across the state, including convenience stores, barbershops, and gas stations are selling lottery tickets, according to the Clarion-Ledger. The retailers only 6 percent of the sales from the tickets.

The revenue raised from the state lottery is meant to be reinvested locally, which is something that had excited both the politicians and the general population.

The monetary estimates are going to be 40 million dollars in 2020 alone, and that number may double in the next year.

It is not the first time lottery fraud was attempted in recent times. Eddie Tipton, the former security chief for the Multi-state lottery association, admitted to rigging the system so he would get millions of dollars.

He is currently in prison and faces a 25-year sentence, though the victims of the lottery fraud case have been granted a 4.3 million dollar settlement, which was the result of a class-action lawsuit.

For one to qualify for a share of the settlement, they will have to give proof of a losing ticket for the games played on November 23rd, 2013.