NJ Lottery probing report of frequent wins by retailers

Half of New Jersey's 20 most frequent state lottery winners are either licensed sellers of lottery tickets or their family members, according to an investigative report by the Asbury Park Press.

The report, based on the newspaper's review of lottery wins claimed since 2009, is being looked into by the New Jersey Lottery, which acknowledges similar patterns have drawn its own scrutiny.

The suspicion under investigation is that these "lucky" retailers are purchasing the winning tickets of people whose "child support judgments taxes or other governmental debts" would swallow their winnings if they cashed the tickets themselves, the newspaper reported. As a consequence, they're willing to transfer their winning tickets to the sellers in return for something like 80 cents on the dollar.

The Press quotes lottery spokeswoman Judith L. Drucker as saying, "We've done investigations and we're continuing to do investigations. There are people on your list who were on our list as well."