Scratch Card Coin

£4 Million Scratchcard Win Denied by Camelot

Two men who bought a scratchcard from a Waitrose in Clapham, London, have been denied their winnings after Camelot did a little investigation.

This story is a little bit bonkers, so even though it doesn’t pertain to online casino it’s definitely worth reading about.

Oh, and if you are already feeling sorry for the guys who missed out, then you don’t need to. As you will soon find out, they both have long records of dishonesty and this incident was no different.

Dodgy Debit Card

Stolen Debit CardThe two men hailed from Bolton in the North of England, but had made the journey down to London specifically to beg because there is more money to be made doing so there.

This in itself is eye opening – beggars commuting into London for higher wages – but the way they got hold of their ‘winning’ scratch card is worse.

After revealing the win the pair called the hotline to claim their winnings, but when the representative on the other end asked for bank account details so that the money could be transferred, they couldn’t give over any details.

This is because they were technically homeless and didn’t have a ban account.

This set alarm bells ringing because the winning scratchcard had been bought using a debit card… which you would typically need a bank account in order to use!

Criminal Records

Criminal RecordIt was soon revealed that the card the men had used to buy the scratchcard did not belong to either of them, and their claims that it belonged to a friend named ‘John’ who owed them money didn’t wash with Camelot.

As it turns out, the card belonged to a man named Josh Addiman, and had also been used to buy just under £100’s worth of goods from a Londis not too far away.

So they used a stolen card to buy the scratchcard and then attempted to claim the win, making them guilty of fraud as well as theft.

Unbelievably, when Camelot refused to pay out they had the audacity to sell their story to a tabloid newspaper with a less than honest reputation, and claimed they had won the money fair and square.

They only changed their story at the last minute, in court, before being sentenced to a little under 2 years in prison each. It turns out they have long criminal records for petty crime.

I told you not to feel sorry for them.

What Happens to the Money if a Lottery Win is Fraudulent?

Money

In this situation, nothing was won despite the winning ticket being found. So what happens to the money that should have been paid out?

Well I contacted the National Lottery to ask them myself and guess what? No one seemed to know the answer. So I can only assume Camelot keeps it.

While the winning ticket might have gone to waste, at least nobody lost out. Well not really.

The bungling criminals lost nothing as they never had a legitimate claim to the money in the first place.

They lost their freedom for a while I suppose, but they deserved that.

‘Josh’ got his money back, and he would never have bought the ticket himself so he has lost nothing except perhaps a few nights sleep while he worried about his stolen card.

As the judge who sentenced the two would be lottery winners said:

“The intended loss was not of Camelot. It wasn’t to Mr Addiman.”The loss was to the next rightful, law-abiding customer who was to go into that Waitrose store in Clapham and purchase that scratchcard. For that unidentifiable individual, fate has twisted at the last minute and deprived them of a life-changing sum of money.”

It’s a small mercy that the person who would have bought that scratchcard will never know about it, because at least they won’t live the rest of their lives wondering what if.