TOP STORIES

When do you lose $500,000 yet still come out a winner? When your freedom is an issue in a court case in Australia, it seems.

In last week’s top gambling news story from Down Under, Wollstonecraft citizen Zheng Tan was facing trial for money laundering in an Australian district court. The specific incident involved a stolen check for AU $500,000 (about US $472,000) which Tan said was the repayment of an informal loan he’d made to a fellow high-roller in the Crown Casino’s VIP room.

Tan first lent the man AU $120,000, to which the thankful loanee offered his $300,000 Philippe Patek watch. When Tan later topped up his new friend with another AU $350,000, the man offered an IOU based on real estate in China.

A short time later, Tan’s friend made good on his promise and wrote Tan a check for the AU $500,000 – about AU $29,000 (US $27,400) more than what had been leant; the outstanding amount was argued by prosecuting attorneys to have been a fee for laundering the money. He then cashed the check and took the money to play with in Canberra – unfortunately, that money was reportedly stolen from his car.

Tan argued in court that he didn’t know the check was stolen and that he’d gambled away some $10 million at the Crown Casino alone. “$29,000 is nothing to me,” he said.

Tan was exonerated of the charges.

When do you lose $500,000 yet still come out a winner? When your freedom is an issue in a court case in Australia, it seems.

In last week’s top gambling news story from Down Under, Wollstonecraft citizen Zheng Tan was facing trial for money laundering in an Australian district court. The specific incident involved a stolen check for AU $500,000 (about US $472,000) which Tan said was the repayment of an informal loan he’d made to a fellow high-roller in the Crown Casino’s VIP room.

Tan first lent the man AU $120,000, to which the thankful loanee offered his $300,000 Philippe Patek watch. When Tan later topped up his new friend with another AU $350,000, the man offered an IOU based on real estate in China.

A short time later, Tan’s friend made good on his promise and wrote Tan a check for the AU $500,000 – about AU $29,000 (US $27,400) more than what had been leant; the outstanding amount was argued by prosecuting attorneys to have been a fee for laundering the money. He then cashed the check and took the money to play with in Canberra – unfortunately, that money was reportedly stolen from his car.

Tan argued in court that he didn’t know the check was stolen and that he’d gambled away some $10 million at the Crown Casino alone. “$29,000 is nothing to me,” he said.

Tan was exonerated of the charges.

An online gambler of Chinese origin who is known only as Mr C recently won a $4,444 while playing on the WowPot video slot at Jackpot City Casino.

The winner, however, is afraid to collect his winnings because he considers the amount to be unlucky.

In Chinese culture, the number 4 is pronounced a lot like the Chinese word for death, making it a very unlucky number. The $4,444 jackpot appears as a bad omen, and Mr C feels that if he accepts the money, no good could possibly come of it.

“We’re still talking to the player and working out the best approach to handle this, which is sensitive to the player’s beliefs and concerns, but ensures that he does not lose out on his winnings,” said Jackpot City Casino spokesperson Terry Maverick.

“The player contacted our customer services department, quite concerned about the winning amount. He was obviously keen not to lose out on the money, but at the same time wary of bringing bad luck on himself or his family.”

Maverick added that this is the first time a player has ever refused to collect their winnings.

An online gambler of Chinese origin who is known only as Mr C recently won a $4,444 while playing on the WowPot video slot at Jackpot City Casino.

The winner, however, is afraid to collect his winnings because he considers the amount to be unlucky.

In Chinese culture, the number 4 is pronounced a lot like the Chinese word for death, making it a very unlucky number. The $4,444 jackpot appears as a bad omen, and Mr C feels that if he accepts the money, no good could possibly come of it.

“We’re still talking to the player and working out the best approach to handle this, which is sensitive to the player’s beliefs and concerns, but ensures that he does not lose out on his winnings,” said Jackpot City Casino spokesperson Terry Maverick.

“The player contacted our customer services department, quite concerned about the winning amount. He was obviously keen not to lose out on the money, but at the same time wary of bringing bad luck on himself or his family.”

Maverick added that this is the first time a player has ever refused to collect their winnings.

For the third time in five months, an Australian has hit an eight-figure jackpot in the national Oz Lotto and hasn’t come forward to collect the winnings. NSW Lotteries is therefore once again appealing through media channels for players to check their tickets again, for they could easily be sitting on about $20 million ($18.73 million).

What is known is that the winning ticket was bought in Sydney somewhere in the northwest of the city. Further details were not to be released so that, as NSW Lotteries spokeswoman Una O’Neill explained, “the winner [may] check their entry without the glare of publicity.”

Though the deadline for collecting on this ticket would be December 1, 2016, multi-million winners rarely wait for longer than a day or two – except, of course, in Australia lately, where folks’ overlooking winning lottery tickets has become a bit endemic.

In July, another Sydney resident took $40 million ($37.46 million) in the Oz Lottery, but only after a similar public call by NSW Lotteries. And in April, several days passed before a middle-aged couple in Ashfield rechecked their ticket to find they’d bagged $30 million ($28 million).
So, again, if you’re in Sydney, check those tickets!

For the third time in five months, an Australian has hit an eight-figure jackpot in the national Oz Lotto and hasn’t come forward to collect the winnings. NSW Lotteries is therefore once again appealing through media channels for players to check their tickets again, for they could easily be sitting on about $20 million ($18.73 million).

What is known is that the winning ticket was bought in Sydney somewhere in the northwest of the city. Further details were not to be released so that, as NSW Lotteries spokeswoman Una O’Neill explained, “the winner [may] check their entry without the glare of publicity.”

Though the deadline for collecting on this ticket would be December 1, 2016, multi-million winners rarely wait for longer than a day or two – except, of course, in Australia lately, where folks’ overlooking winning lottery tickets has become a bit endemic.

In July, another Sydney resident took $40 million ($37.46 million) in the Oz Lottery, but only after a similar public call by NSW Lotteries. And in April, several days passed before a middle-aged couple in Ashfield rechecked their ticket to find they’d bagged $30 million ($28 million).
So, again, if you’re in Sydney, check those tickets!

A mystery man has just won a $30 million dollar jackpot in Taiwan’s national lottery, just hours after one lotto stand’s oracle octopus predicted that the next big winner would be a male.

The Taiwan Lottery Company has so far revealed that the winner is a man from eastern Taitung county, but they won’t say much else. The man collected his winnings quietly, and is trying to keep out of the spotlight.

As for the oracle octopus, it might have just been a lucky guess, but according to the Taiwan Lottery Company, most winners in the country have in fact been men. Based on a sample study of 1,400 pst winners, the lotto group has put together a very detailed picture of the average Taiwanese lottery winner, all the way down to details such as “large earlobes”.

“The latest winner also has an oval face, double-eyelids and a high nose,” predicted Huang Chi Yi, General Manager of Taiwan Lottery Company. These features describe the majority of the company’s big winners, who tend to be between 40 and 59 with generous souls who were born in the Chinese year of the Goat.

This $30 million lottery prize is the largest jackpots every paid out to a single winner in Taiwan. The store that sold the winning ticket has been buzzing with activity ever since the win was announced, with many visitors having their picture taken in front of the store in hopes of catching some ambient luck.

A mystery man has just won a $30 million dollar jackpot in Taiwan’s national lottery, just hours after one lotto stand’s oracle octopus predicted that the next big winner would be a male.

The Taiwan Lottery Company has so far revealed that the winner is a man from eastern Taitung county, but they won’t say much else. The man collected his winnings quietly, and is trying to keep out of the spotlight.

As for the oracle octopus, it might have just been a lucky guess, but according to the Taiwan Lottery Company, most winners in the country have in fact been men. Based on a sample study of 1,400 pst winners, the lotto group has put together a very detailed picture of the average Taiwanese lottery winner, all the way down to details such as “large earlobes”.

“The latest winner also has an oval face, double-eyelids and a high nose,” predicted Huang Chi Yi, General Manager of Taiwan Lottery Company. These features describe the majority of the company’s big winners, who tend to be between 40 and 59 with generous souls who were born in the Chinese year of the Goat.

This $30 million lottery prize is the largest jackpots every paid out to a single winner in Taiwan. The store that sold the winning ticket has been buzzing with activity ever since the win was announced, with many visitors having their picture taken in front of the store in hopes of catching some ambient luck.

With the current economic situation in the United States sending casinos looking for ways to entice customers in, many original promotions and perks are getting a test run in some gambling houses on Native American lands. Case in point in the Table Mountain Casino located nearby Fresno, California. At that casino, every one of the 2,000 slot machines on the gaming floor is tied in to an exclusive progressive jackpot available only to the casino’s “Player’s Club” members. The jackpot starts at $50,000 and can hit a max of $150,000.

The first winner of the “Mega Mountain Jackpot” was reported this weekend after about three weeks with the big prize installed: A player known as Richard from Auberry, California, took home a nice $100,633.33 in cash on a $3.75 spin on his favorite machine.

Another feature Table Mountain introduced was its “Rapid Bonus Rewards,” a way of hourly awarding random players with free spins.

It sounds to us like Table Mountain Casino is learning a few tricks about promoting one’s brand from online casinos…

With the current economic situation in the United States sending casinos looking for ways to entice customers in, many original promotions and perks are getting a test run in some gambling houses on Native American lands. Case in point in the Table Mountain Casino located nearby Fresno, California. At that casino, every one of the 2,000 slot machines on the gaming floor is tied in to an exclusive progressive jackpot available only to the casino’s “Player’s Club” members. The jackpot starts at $50,000 and can hit a max of $150,000.

The first winner of the “Mega Mountain Jackpot” was reported this weekend after about three weeks with the big prize installed: A player known as Richard from Auberry, California, took home a nice $100,633.33 in cash on a $3.75 spin on his favorite machine.

Another feature Table Mountain introduced was its “Rapid Bonus Rewards,” a way of hourly awarding random players with free spins.

It sounds to us like Table Mountain Casino is learning a few tricks about promoting one’s brand from online casinos…

The Mercury Prize winner for 2010 is London trio The XX, whose self-titled debut has been echoing across national radio stations for months. The band had quite a few backers, but for a while, nobody was quite sure how things would turn out.

Veteran rocker Paul Weller was a favorite for many, with his 2010 album ‘Wake Up the Nation’ proving to be quite popular in the few months since its release. In fact, so many bettors thought Weller was a shoo-in for the prize that top online sportsbook William Hill was forced to reduce the odds on the rock star after they became swamped with big bets.

Just days before judges would decide the winner of this year’s Mercury Prize, Willaim Hill was promising 20/1 for Weller. After receiving more than 100 £100 wagers on Weller to win, they found themselves suddenly liable for over £20,000 in bets, all riding on a single music album. The solution was simple: the sportsbook shamelessly dropped their odds to a mere 1/10!

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said the company suspected something was up. “It’s so co-ordinated that maybe it’s a syndicate of people who have got together and thought this is a good idea,” explained Adams.

Whatever the case, William Hill’s choice to cut the odds on Weller ended up being good for punters who put their money on the rocker to grab the prestigious Mercury Prize and the £20,000 award that comes along with it.

The Mercury Prize winner for 2010 is London trio The XX, whose self-titled debut has been echoing across national radio stations for months. The band had quite a few backers, but for a while, nobody was quite sure how things would turn out.

Veteran rocker Paul Weller was a favorite for many, with his 2010 album ‘Wake Up the Nation’ proving to be quite popular in the few months since its release. In fact, so many bettors thought Weller was a shoo-in for the prize that top online sportsbook William Hill was forced to reduce the odds on the rock star after they became swamped with big bets.

Just days before judges would decide the winner of this year’s Mercury Prize, Willaim Hill was promising 20/1 for Weller. After receiving more than 100 £100 wagers on Weller to win, they found themselves suddenly liable for over £20,000 in bets, all riding on a single music album. The solution was simple: the sportsbook shamelessly dropped their odds to a mere 1/10!

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said the company suspected something was up. “It’s so co-ordinated that maybe it’s a syndicate of people who have got together and thought this is a good idea,” explained Adams.

Whatever the case, William Hill’s choice to cut the odds on Weller ended up being good for punters who put their money on the rocker to grab the prestigious Mercury Prize and the £20,000 award that comes along with it.

In reportage on lotteries and gambling, we often use the expression “life-changing” to describe the huge wins of which all players dream – but when you’re low enough to be living without running water in your broken down home, those words are at their truest.

FOX News in Chicago last night revisited the story of Jim Gatze for its television audience; Gatze hit the Illinois State Lottery jackpot back in 2003 for $5.5 milllion but became famously lucky as the guy who almost did get paid his jackpot. Gatze bought a ticket at a Calumet Park gas station, but when he went to cash in the winning ticket at a state lottery commission office, he was refused.

First he was mistaken for a homeless man and was not believed when he presented his driver’s license to officials. Apparently, Gatze hadn’t bathed in nine months at that point. He told FOX, “I didn’t have water in the house for about a year and a half. No heat for six months. No phone for a year and a half.”

Enlisting the help of a friend who hired legal assistance and brought a suit against the state for refusal to pay, Gatze ended up collecting his millions in 26 installments of $151,920 each after taxes – but he still doesn’t have a phone.

Gatze today lives in a hotel for $250 a week and uses pay telephones. He has bought three new cars since winning the lottery, his latest a Mazda 3. He keeps his money in a savings account which earns 3% interest at the local bank and is devoted to feeding a dozen or so cats which live in a nearby junkyard.

When he was down on his luck, says Gatze, the cats “were compassionate and all like that, but people always looked down on me. That’s what’s wrong with this world today. People are not as compassionate as animals.”

In reportage on lotteries and gambling, we often use the expression “life-changing” to describe the huge wins of which all players dream – but when you’re low enough to be living without running water in your broken down home, those words are at their truest.

FOX News in Chicago last night revisited the story of Jim Gatze for its television audience; Gatze hit the Illinois State Lottery jackpot back in 2003 for $5.5 milllion but became famously lucky as the guy who almost did get paid his jackpot. Gatze bought a ticket at a Calumet Park gas station, but when he went to cash in the winning ticket at a state lottery commission office, he was refused.

First he was mistaken for a homeless man and was not believed when he presented his driver’s license to officials. Apparently, Gatze hadn’t bathed in nine months at that point. He told FOX, “I didn’t have water in the house for about a year and a half. No heat for six months. No phone for a year and a half.”

Enlisting the help of a friend who hired legal assistance and brought a suit against the state for refusal to pay, Gatze ended up collecting his millions in 26 installments of $151,920 each after taxes – but he still doesn’t have a phone.

Gatze today lives in a hotel for $250 a week and uses pay telephones. He has bought three new cars since winning the lottery, his latest a Mazda 3. He keeps his money in a savings account which earns 3% interest at the local bank and is devoted to feeding a dozen or so cats which live in a nearby junkyard.

When he was down on his luck, says Gatze, the cats “were compassionate and all like that, but people always looked down on me. That’s what’s wrong with this world today. People are not as compassionate as animals.”

When people think of online gambling, they usually imagine video slots, blackjack tournaments, or internet poker games. Virtual scratch cards are definitely not the first things that come to mind! These simple games, however, are quite popular with a certain crowd. As news of this big win spreads across the internet, scratch tickets are going to get a lot more attention.

The €1,000,000 jackpot was won on a scratch card game called Super 3 WOW by a player named Lydie A. She was enjoying the game at an online gambling site called Hopa, which specializes in online scratch tickets and other instant-win titles.

When Lydie scratched off the winning ticket to reveal three clovers on a single card, she was actually watching her account balance instead of the card. She saw her balance jump by €250,000, she just about fell out of her chair! She was still staring at the numbers in disbelief when a Hopa team member contacted her on chat, congratulating her on her €1,000,000 win, explaining that not all the money had been added to her account yet. It was only then that she realized just how much money she had just won.

This wasn’t Lydie’s first big win at Hopa. This time last year, she was playing a slot game called Super Slot 7 when she won €100,000. Lydie is a regular at Hopa, which offers not only online slots and scratch card games but a great range of mobile phone games too through the unique Hopa Mobile Casino.

When people think of online gambling, they usually imagine video slots, blackjack tournaments, or internet poker games. Virtual scratch cards are definitely not the first things that come to mind! These simple games, however, are quite popular with a certain crowd. As news of this big win spreads across the internet, scratch tickets are going to get a lot more attention.

The €1,000,000 jackpot was won on a scratch card game called Super 3 WOW by a player named Lydie A. She was enjoying the game at an online gambling site called Hopa, which specializes in online scratch tickets and other instant-win titles.

When Lydie scratched off the winning ticket to reveal three clovers on a single card, she was actually watching her account balance instead of the card. She saw her balance jump by €250,000, she just about fell out of her chair! She was still staring at the numbers in disbelief when a Hopa team member contacted her on chat, congratulating her on her €1,000,000 win, explaining that not all the money had been added to her account yet. It was only then that she realized just how much money she had just won.

This wasn’t Lydie’s first big win at Hopa. This time last year, she was playing a slot game called Super Slot 7 when she won €100,000. Lydie is a regular at Hopa, which offers not only online slots and scratch card games but a great range of mobile phone games too through the unique Hopa Mobile Casino.

A player known as Matthew G. got his name into the record books this week by winning the Deal Or No Deal progressive jackpot – but better yet, he also took home nearly £2 million!

Bristol resident Matthew G. won the exact figure of £1,963,088 (over $3.03 million) at Jackpot Joy online bingo hall. This marks the third time the Deal Or No Deal progressive slot has paid out over £1.3 million in the past 18 months. The former record for a progressive jackpot slots win by a U.K. resident was sent about a year ago, when Paul M. of Kent won £1.438 million on the machine; in May 2009, Keith R. won £1.365 on the slot game.

Jackpot Joy is today reporting a humorous story about Matthew G., namely that he’d semi-jokingly promised to pay a friend £250,000 ($386,000) if he won the big jackpot … and he followed through on the promise!

Not only is Matthew G.’s win the largest-ever progressive jackpot won by a British citizen, the prize is also the biggest ever won at an online bingo site. However, a much huger winner is somewhere out there, as Jackpot Joy’s Clover Rollover progressive slot jackpot is currently at over £3,200,000 ($4.95 million).

A player known as Matthew G. got his name into the record books this week by winning the Deal Or No Deal progressive jackpot – but better yet, he also took home nearly £2 million!

Bristol resident Matthew G. won the exact figure of £1,963,088 (over $3.03 million) at Jackpot Joy online bingo hall. This marks the third time the Deal Or No Deal progressive slot has paid out over £1.3 million in the past 18 months. The former record for a progressive jackpot slots win by a U.K. resident was sent about a year ago, when Paul M. of Kent won £1.438 million on the machine; in May 2009, Keith R. won £1.365 on the slot game.

Jackpot Joy is today reporting a humorous story about Matthew G., namely that he’d semi-jokingly promised to pay a friend £250,000 ($386,000) if he won the big jackpot … and he followed through on the promise!

Not only is Matthew G.’s win the largest-ever progressive jackpot won by a British citizen, the prize is also the biggest ever won at an online bingo site. However, a much huger winner is somewhere out there, as Jackpot Joy’s Clover Rollover progressive slot jackpot is currently at over £3,200,000 ($4.95 million).