Corruption in national lotteries

[alegotardo]

In Greece there's a raging scandal of huge proportions with agricultural subsidies. For those that are unaware the European Union gives to member states large amounts of money every year to distribute to direct producers of agricultural goods. Either animal or plant based production, everything above a certain size can apply for subsidies.

The issue with Greece is that corruption in past governments allowed for people close to the government to pass fake statements through the system and receive disproportionate subsidies.

Now, the scandal was unveiled by a central European prosecution authority. And when questioned about their money some of those that were close to the government just said "I won the lottery several times".

This sparked a huge debate in Greece. Could state monopoly lottery results be faked? And if yes, what should be the ramifications? State lotteries are to many people the most trusted form of gambling still.

So, I do not think there could be have a problem with lotteries, I do not think that it is fraud... I think they are just laundering money in another way, for example: buying already winning tickets for a value above your real prize, so they can transform dirty money into something legitimate that is declared as luck. Even European authorities have warned about the growing use of lottery and scratch off products for this type of scheme... it is a perfect and socially accepted alibi to justify money inflows.

But, obviously, I can not deny with 100% certainty that there are problems with lotteries there... any system controlled by people can be manipulated if there is not a strong, independent, and reliable audit. But, I think these corrupt politicians could use casinos to launder money or manipulate winnings much more easily... I do not believe they would resort to lottery fraud to achieve that.

[maydna]

Corruption problems are difficult to eradicate if the governments don't take them seriously. The corrupt officers can use the gap to their advantage and fake many things, including the state monopoly lottery. With their network, they can manipulate the works and also the results and they can also win the prize.

Not to mention if they want to launder their money using the lottery which may be difficult but it is for them as they know how it works. If the government can open the case and solve it, that will be a big catch for those corrupt officers but it takes courage to catch them.

They should be arrested and put in jail. They must not be given a chance to run away and their money should be taken as a warning. The government must investigate this case seriously to identify the corrupt officers.

[viljy]

Well, corruption and scams are everywhere now. So it cannot be ruled out that in this case, the lottery may be the same. If you think about it, the entire modern financial system is one big scam by moneylenders (commercial banks) and speculators (investment banks). If you think about it again and remember Marx, then in general the principle of classical capitalism, which consists of extracting surplus value, is theft.

So plundering government subsidies and the state budget in general is the primary task of people who have this opportunity. Actually, that's why they became officials. Moreover, this is typical for any country. And ordinary people (who for the most part are not scammers and thieves) are then surprised by the arrogance of corrupt officials.

[retreat]

If it is managed by the government, you cannot expect that it is completely clean especially when it is Greece where corruption cases are so high. Because a non-transparent administrative system is often a place for corrupt practices that are difficult to monitor. And it could be that as a result of this, state monopoly lottery results can be faked, this is all possible, because there is no mechanism strong enough to ensure authenticity and fairness in the management process. Even though it is still not completely certain whether it is truly fake, the possibility of manipulation in the system still exists.

[Dave1]

If it is managed by the government, you cannot expect that it is completely clean especially when it is Greece where corruption cases are so high. Because a non-transparent administrative system is often a place for corrupt practices that are difficult to monitor. And it could be that as a result of this, state monopoly lottery results can be faked, this is all possible, because there is no mechanism strong enough to ensure authenticity and fairness in the management process. Even though it is still not completely certain whether it is truly fake, the possibility of manipulation in the system still exists.

Just to be fair, it's also like that in my country wherein corruption is like a norm for government officials as they can cook as well as who is going to win and what numbers are going to draw in a national lottery so that the winners are within the circles of this corrupt officials.

If not for them, then someone will have to front and then claim the winnings, worth of millions.

So I'm not surprised that there are countries that pulling this kind of stunt. Nevertheless, if there is a smoke, there will be fire and so this will be exposed sooner or later. And hopefully the hand of justice will prevail and put this individuals behind bar for good.

[danherbias07]

I've heard almost the same story, but here in our country. They also fake lottery winners just to take the money that was supposed to be for the real winner. The last time they posted a photo of the winner was with a government official or the one handling the national lottery, and it was proven to be a fake one.
Yet, no one was imprisoned for what happened, and they don't even know where the money is. Corruption is truly in every government in the entire world, and I don't think that will be erased easily.

[Royal Cap]

From our country's perspective, the matter seems more familiar. Because here too, there are many such cases where subsidies, grants or project money do not go to the right people, and in the end, it is seen that people close to power have taken advantage. Which we can simply call corruption.

When I heard the excuse of the Greek lottery, I first thought that it was exactly the kind of strange explanation that no one believes but tells for the sake of telling, that is, to comfort the media. Winning the lottery repeatedly is almost impossible, and if someone uses it as a shield, that itself makes the suspicion even greater. If something like this happened in our country, people would first say that everything is a fixed game. Because there is already a lack of trust. So looking at the incident in Greece, it seems that wherever corruption is, the story is almost the same. Just change the name of the country.

[mak013]

I think that any lottery can be fake or rigged. National lotteries with big prizes - too. But the winners can prove their words with a ticket or check. Even if they lost it, they can ask the organizer to prove it.
As for me, they anyway have to prove that they won lottery. After it it would be able to check lottery organizer, but i don`t think that it would be able to prove that lottery was rigged.

[stadus]

If it is managed by the government, you cannot expect that it is completely clean especially when it is Greece where corruption cases are so high. Because a non-transparent administrative system is often a place for corrupt practices that are difficult to monitor. And it could be that as a result of this, state monopoly lottery results can be faked, this is all possible, because there is no mechanism strong enough to ensure authenticity and fairness in the management process. Even though it is still not completely certain whether it is truly fake, the possibility of manipulation in the system still exists.

Just to be fair, it's also like that in my country wherein corruption is like a norm for government officials as they can cook as well as who is going to win and what numbers are going to draw in a national lottery so that the winners are within the circles of this corrupt officials.

If not for them, then someone will have to front and then claim the winnings, worth of millions.

So I'm not surprised that there are countries that pulling this kind of stunt. Nevertheless, if there is a smoke, there will be fire and so this will be exposed sooner or later. And hopefully the hand of justice will prevail and put this individuals behind bar for good.

Woo...it seems normal today? 
I feel ashamed of how the government and good leaders tolerate this kind of activity without condemning it. They are supposed to lead the government better, but sadly, they lead it to corruption. I don't wonder why people never show respect to them. They don't deserve it either. People are not innocent enough to be fooled by this kind of trick.

 If this is the real happening these days, I expect a worse situation in the future.
I expect rampant fixed matches (sports games) and manipulated winners (lotteries). 

[LUCKMCFLY]

If they ask me right now if corruption exists in the national lottery games, I would say yes, and that it has always happened, everything is rigged, manipulation at least in my country is a fact, this is something that we must see clearly, I don't know if it happens in developed countries, maybe not, but general manipulation is so easy.

[₿itcoin]

This sparked a huge debate in Greece. Could state monopoly lottery results be faked? And if yes, what should be the ramifications? State lotteries are to many people the most trusted form of gambling still.

I understand why during a major corruption scandal, when a politician or influential person suddenly starts sayin 'I have won the lottery many times, suspicions begin to arise in society. i have also read such  similar incident is happening recently in Greece, where a massive corruption investigation is underway into EU agricultural subsidies.  actually there is no direct state lottery but there are allegations that individuals have embezzled millions of euros in EU agricultural aid under false pretenses. Several people have been arrested in the investigation so far

The subsidy scandal has forced five government officials to resign &  Greek farmers are protesting as the flow of legitimate money has slowed. There is debate about whether lottery rigging is possible. Licensed state lotteries are rigorously audited &  independently run &  there is no credible evidence to suggest that they are rigged. However   when individuals involved in the scandal claim to have won the lottery   suspicions naturally rise. In my opinion  we need to focus on transparent investigations &   accountability   not seeing every victory as part of a manipulation

[püsür]

I think this inevitable, I mean the corruption in the states or governments. When there is this much money involved, there usually are corruptions that the money attracts. This situation in Greece must be in almost every country, one way or another. I hate it and don't want to accept it but it's just the way it is. Gambling in every shape or form attracts corruption, inevitably.

When I see the words Greece and corruption, I always remember what the old greek foreign minister said. He said something like "There is small corruption in the balkans or the eastern europe, like the bribe passport police wants. But in the western europe there is industrial scale corruption like dieselgate or siemens scandal'. This lottery corruption is middle size I'd say.

[Oluwa-btc]

This sparked a huge debate in Greece. Could state monopoly lottery results be faked? And if yes, what should be the ramifications? State lotteries are to many people the most trusted form of gambling still.

Let's just say corruption is something that has eaten deep  into the system and the government that we feel would subside this menace are actually the ones making it worse through the leaders and it's mostly everywhere. so let's just imagine the happenings in this aspect now and back to lottery there's always a situation of manipulation and embezzlement where a user would win and be restricted and overthrown of his funds by the lottery centers. There's so much to this but if corruption can be curb from the higher bodies thenother angles would be less.