Former Lottomatica staff face €25m claim over lottery scheme

Five employees of Lottomatica Holding are facing claims in excess of €25 million from Italy related to a supposed scheme involving four winning Gratta e Vinci scratch cards, totaling €24 million. It is alleged by the Lazio prosecutor at Italy’s Court of Accounts that ex-employees used their privileged access to the company systems to find winning tickets before they reached retail shops. At the request of the prosecutor, five cars and financial assets and 25 properties in six provinces of Italy were seized by the Guardia di Finanza of Rome. According to the media, all five former employees were called to come to the public accounting tribunal. The seizure was made so as to preserve property pending the examination of financial and reputational harm done to Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency by the court. How the alleged lottery scheme worked According to prosecutors, the former employees used corporate credentials to access and manipulate computer systems. A programme allegedly analysed ticket distribution data before the scratch cards reached retailers, allowing the group to identify four winning tickets and the outlets expected to receive them. The campaign is said to have asked friends and relatives to buy the winning tickets. Out of four tickets, two tickets had a prize of €7 million while the other two had their worth set at €5 million. The prosecutor’s office says that the access to prohibited information compromised the entire process of the lottery and incurred damages to the state. The scam allegedly took place between the years 2015 and 2019 and was made public as a result of another investigation carried out in 2020 where more than a dozen of people were involved in the matter. The present case of the Court of Accounts is associated with five former employees of the company and is estimated at €25,067,224.