06 June 2023 , 16:51
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Two men are suing the lottery claiming they were cheated out of winning $500,000 - after a security guard stole thousands of scratchcards.
Raymond L. Brock and Rick Tomboli have filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas Lottery Commission on behalf of more than 50,000 customers who purchased the lottery tickets.
Remmele Mazyck, a former Arkansas Lottery Commission's deputy director of security, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering related to the alleged theft of 22,710 tickets in 2013.
He was sentenced to 37 months in prison.
The lawsuit in Pulaski County Court claims the commission did not inform players about the stolen scratchcards after learning of the theft on October 26, 2012.
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Remmele Mazyck, Arkansas Lottery deputy security director, poses for photos during the launch of the state's first four games in Little Rock (AP)It claims the former security guard between November 2009 and October 2012 used his position to steal lottery tickets and cash in his winnings undetected.
Mazyck allegedly scratched off the tickets to see if he had won, and only cashed in prizes less than $500 - as he would have to take them to the post office.
After learning of the activity on October 26, 2012 he was placed on administrative leave and then fired on November 14.
The claimants claim their odds were shortened after spending "thousands" (Getty Images/iStockphoto)"Between November 2009 and October 2012, the Deputy Director of Security for the Arkansas Lottery, Remmele Mazyck, stole lottery tickets and cashed them undetected," the complaint states.
"On information and belief, after the Lottery learned of the ticket theft situation on October 26, 2012, the Lottery repeatedly misrepresented to the public the number and cash value of the prizes still available in various scratch-off games.
"On information and belief, Remmele Mazyck cashed 22,710 tickets for a total of $478,073, but also scratched-off many more winning tickets than he cashed.
"On information and belief, Mr. Mazyck did not cash in any winning tickets with a value of more than 500 dollars."
Mr Tomboli, 47, told ABC he had spent "thousands" of dollars on scratch card tickets in the last year.
He said: "I knew I wasn't winning, but I just didn't know why I wasn't winning until a man stepped up and stole over 22,000 tickets and won almost half a million dollars."
The claimants say they "purchased non-winning tickets because of inducement by the lottery" and have been financially harmed by the theft.
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"On information and belief, after the lottery knew about the theft of scratch-off tickets, the lottery did not inform the buyers of scratch-off tickets that some of the winning tickets purported to be unclaimed and still available for purchase had been stolen by the lottery's Deputy Director of Security," the complaint states.
The Arkansas Lottery Commission declined to comment saying they "don't comment on pending lawsuits."
The men are suing the lottery for negligent misrepresentation, negligence, breach of contract, fraud and unjust enrichment, according to their lawsuit.