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Lottery ticket 039520Gas station employee cheats lottery customers out of winning millions
The real tipper had won exactly 1,477,777 euros in game 77 (symbolic image).
IMAGO/Bihlmayer photography
A gas station employee wanted to quickly make himself a millionaire 1.5 times over.
In April 2024, a lottery player comes to a gas station in Grasbrunn near Munich to have his ticket checked. And indeed: he wins a large sum. But he isn't told anything about it! Instead, one employee keeps the lucky ticket.
Man wins 1.5 million euros – and doesn't find out
The real tipper won exactly 1,477,777 euros in game 77, reports the Bild newspaper. However, the lottery player was “incorrectly informed that no winnings had been made,” a lottery spokeswoman told the newspaper. The man then left the ticket with the number 039520, which was now worth 1.5 million euros, at the gas station – believing that he had come away empty-handed in the drawing, reports the TZ.
The cashier then passed the lottery ticket to another employee at the gas stationBild, TZ and Spiegel report unanimously and refer to the Munich District Court. And that's exactly who wants to pocket the big bucks: Months later, according to reports, the 31-year-old went to the lottery headquarters in Munich to have the winnings paid out.
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Gas station employee cheats lottery customers out of millions in winnings – 15 months probation
But instead of handing over the 1.5 million euros, the lottery employees become suspicious: Because as an employee of the lottery acceptance point in the gas station, he is not allowed to play there. As a security measure, employees have their own registration numbers, which are not visible on the certificate, reports Bild. But the 31-year-old apparently didn't know that. As a result, he confesses to the crime and has now been sentenced to 15 months probation, a spokesman for the district court confirms to Spiegel.
The district court spokesman was unable to say to what extent the second employee was being investigated, Spiegel reports.
This doesn't help the actual winner anyway. The lottery spokeswoman said he had “neither been able to be identified by the relevant law enforcement authorities nor by us.” In addition, without the lottery ticket he would have no claim to the winnings.
