Lottery scams involving generous jackpots could backfire and result in someone going straight to jail with a hefty fine, just like the father and daughter that made an attempt at bagging a CA$12.5-million jackpot that was meant for a lottery player. After nearly a decade of legal battle Jun-Chul Chung, 68, and Kathleen Chung, 36, who conducted the scam at a Variety Plus store in Burlington now have seven years to pay a combined CA$4.6-million fine.
Each of them has to pay CA$2.3 million and failing to do so would result in additional six years in prison. Mr. Chung’s son Kenneth Chung also received a sentence, as he was managing the store where the fraud took place. He received a 10-month sentence because there has not been any evidence showing that he was involved in the scam itself.
Stolen Lottery Jackpot Costs a Lot
It should also be noted that the winner Danniel Campbell who entered the store on that day in 2003 saw justice and in 2011 he received his generous jackpot with interest making up for the delay. Later on, he shared the generous earning with six of his co-workers. The two of them heard their sentences of respectively seven and four years behind bars in April 2018, but the additional fine needed some time in order to be estimated. Justice Douglas Gray made sure it is a fair punishment for the crime they committed in close collaboration.
This amount is going to cover the remainder of the CA$12.5 million jackpot, as the court has already been able to obtain about CA$8 million in personal assets belonging to the two individuals. The father and daughter had been quick to make several lavish purchases to the likes of five luxury vehicles, two homes, three commercial properties, and other personal property such as jewelry and electronics. All of them were purchased after the millions of Canadian dollars were stolen by the duo.
They were arrested in 2010 and ever since then a legal battle has been in progress. Upon further investigation it became clear that Mr. Campbell brought five Super 7 tickets that he wanted to cash in, previously purchased in St. Catharines on December 19, 2003. Mr. Chung validated all of them, returning free play tickets, but eventually kept the fifth winning one. Mrs. Chung made her way to the OLG Prize Office in Toronto in February 2004, but could not pinpoint the exact retail location where he had purchased it. Despite this, the cash prize was paid out and later on spent.
Insider Wins Policy Changes in Ontario
As it was discovered shortly after this occasion of fraud, many lottery employees that have the task of validating winning tickets take advantage of their authority and steal some of the more tempting cash prizes that people are eager to bag. Retailers have been able to bag some CA$198 million in cash prizes on the past more than a decade and their families and employees have also been able to enjoy the benefits of this with a fair share.
The figure was unearthed in a 2007 report issued by former Ontario Ombudsman André Marin indicating suspicious cash wins related to lottery games offered by Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. Crackdown gave results shortly after that with a tightening of security measures and as it turned out, similar insider wins situation occurred at the Variety Plus store. Back in 2009, Mr. Marin prompted the lottery corporation to launch civil suits against employees and retailers that had taken advantage of the situation.
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has since issued its Insider Wins policy, clarifying that in this situation each instance would be subjected to a probe. The corporation, in addition to a 30-day delay in the prize claim, publicly issues every earning of this kind. This provides people discontent with the time to express their thoughts.
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