Seven syndicate members employed at an EggSmart restaurant in Durham, Canada began the day on a high note when they found out they had won the Lotto 6/49 jackpot prize. The group won the prize after matching the numbers from the Saturday’s Lotto 6/49 draw. The syndicate literally crippled the restaurant operations after all the syndicate members failed to turn up for their jobs.

The syndicate has been actively pooling their funds and purchasing lottery tickets in the last one year with a hope that they will win big from the popular Canadian lottery game. One of the syndicate members, Susan Pennington personally selected the lottery numbers that made the syndicate members millionaires. Like the proverbial lucky charm, she too was the first to know about the winning.

Her first reaction to the winning was sending her boss a text whose content were ‘can’t work today because we won Lotto 6/49′. Thereafter the syndicate members met and went to a lottery terminal to validate their winning ticket. The $21 Million dollar winning gives each of the syndicate members a windfall of about 3 million dollars each.

Most of the syndicate members plan to settle off their outstanding debts and use the rest of the money for either their personal of family upkeep. With all of the syndicate members lie in the 24 to 52 age group, they have a long time to enjoy their newly found fortune. The last time that Canadian lottery players won a lottery jackpot prize of a similar magnitude is nearly six months ago when Oshawa couple scooped a $50 Million Lotto Max jackpot.

The feeling of ecstasy that lottery players get after winning from a lottery game is hard to describe. This explains the feelings of utter disgust a Massachusetts lottery player had after he found a scratch off lottery ticket is valueless as it was a case of a lottery ticket misprint. To add insult to the injury, the ticket the player had entitled him to a million dollar prize.

Paul Pasquarosa, a Boston resident was in high spirits after he found out he had matched the winning numbers and letters from the Cashword scratch-off. However, his luck didn’t last long as afterward he became aware that the lottery tickets he possessed was one of the 2,200 scratch off lottery tickets affected by the misprint.

Lottery officials were aware of the defective tickets and had tried to cut off the circulation of the misprinted scratch off lottery tickets. However, Paul is glad that he checked the ticket before leaving the store and this ‘cushioned’ him from the shock that followed afterwards. Paul feels that the lottery should take responsibility for selling the defecting scratch off lottery tickets less they lose the trust of avid lottery players from the state.

It isn’t yet clear on whether Paul plans to take legal action for the damages due to the defective lottery tickets. In response, the Massachusetts lottery apologized to any of the lottery players affected by the ticket misprint and further suggested that any complaints about the defective lottery ticket should be directed to the Legal/Claims department.

The cases of lottery scams have significantly risen in the recent days. A good numbers of the scams architects come from Jamaica. The police from the small Caribbean island nation report that the scammers have been living large courtesy of the proceeds from the lottery scams. They flaunt around with their state of the art luxurious vehicles to show off how just easy it can be to make money the easy way.

According to the Jamaican police, all that it takes for one to make money out of the scam is access to the internet and a cellular phone.  The police report that they have arrested scammers some barely 15 years of age who own mansions and luxurious vehicles. Investigations show that a scammer could make as much as $120,000 within a week from the lotto scam.

Some of the scammers have developed connection with the drug barons in the country and hence it has become difficult to pin them despite the numerous crackdowns by the Jamaican Police. The success stories by the lotto scammers have played a great part in attracting more Jamaicans to be part of the Lotto scam.

The police admit that the situation has the potential of spinning out of control as they are numerous cases of employees quitting legitimate jobs to ‘concentrate’ on the lotto scam. The US is the most affected country owing to the proximity to Jamaica. The scammers in 2010, scammed away an estimated $30 Million dollars from the state of Minnesota residents.

Lottery players around the world are cautioned to play it safe and never send money regardless of the amount of lottery prize won.

The London Olympics Organizing committee has officially acknowledged Camelot as an official sponsor of the 2012 London game. The National Lottery operator will contribute billions to the Olympic Games through coming up with unique lottery games that have the London Olympics theme. The event was officiated by the Camelot Chief Executive officer Dianne Thompson who was handed the official contributor flag.

Camelot estimated that they will inject about £2.2 billion toward the London games. They estimated that the London 2012 lottery themed games will bring in £750 million in lottery tickets sale. The contribution makes Camelot the largest single contributor to the games. Camelot regards the sponsorship as a privilege to be part of the “greatest show on earth”. This is the first time that Camelot has sponsored a major world event.

Onto other news, the Irish National Lottery officials report that there are €90 Million worth of uncollected lottery prizes.  The €90 Million is the accumulative figure over the past five years. Among the unclaimed prizes is a €250,000 lotto prize won in 2011. The Irish national lottery usually gives a 90 day allowance for the lottery winners to claim their prize. After the period, the winning are directed towards the various lottery games and draws.

The Irish national lottery has over €15.2 million in unclaimed prizes for the fiscal year 2011/2012. This makes the unclaimed winning to equates 2% of the overall winnings for the year. Still on the unclaimed lottery prizes, the hunt is on for a €1.2 million EuroMillions ticket sold in the UK. The ticket holder has up to May 23 to come forward and claim the lottery prize.