A Florida man has been arrested after allegedly trying to claim a six-figure lottery prize with a stolen ticket. Since the Sunshine State treats lottery tickets as a personal possession worth the prize it wins, the man now risks up to several decades in prison.
Electronic Data Determined the Ticket Had Been Stolen
A few months ago, Jawed Areeb, a 26-year-old man from Florida, visited the Florida Lottery’s office in West Palm Beach to claim a six-figure prize. According to reports, the man presented a Fantasy 5 ticket worth some $115,733.61, suggesting that this was a jackpot prize.
While lotteries usually celebrate big winners, something wasn’t adding up. Since tickets are logged electronically once they are purchased, officials were able to determine that the ticket Areeb presented had been stolen.
Electronic data suggested that the ticket presented by Areeb had been stolen on October 2 from a business in North Lauderdale.
The man insisted that the ticket was his and, days later, changed his story, saying that it was given to him by an uncle. A special agent asked for the purported uncle’s address and was given the same address from which the ticket had been reported stolen.
On January 3, investigators visited Areeb in his home. Then, the man finally came clean, admitting that the ticket was indeed stolen.
The man was subsequently booked into Palm Beach County Jail for processing. If convicted, he risks up to 30 years in prison, since Florida treats lottery tickets as personal property worth the prize they win.
Other Florida Players Won Big
On a more positive note, a few players in Florida recently won big prizes – and did so with tickets that weren’t stolen. These included a man from Florida who won a staggering $5 million top prize from the lottery’s $5,000,000 CA$H MONEY scratch-off game. After opting to take the lump-sum option, the man took home $3,053,000.00, Florida Lottery officials said.
A few days ago, a player from Florida narrowly missed the Powerball jackpot only to win a seven-figure sum instead. For context, the winning white numbers for the January 12 Powerball drawing were 5, 27, 45, 56, and 59, with a Powerball of 4. Since the player matched all white numbers, but did not match the Powerball and did not have the Power Play feature active, they won $1 million.