{"id":199553,"date":"2022-01-27T14:17:11","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T22:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=199553"},"modified":"2022-01-28T13:14:06","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T21:14:06","slug":"uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

A scammer who \u201cwon\u201d \u00a32.5 million (US$3.3 million) on the UK National Lottery with a forged ticket has been ordered to hand over assets worth \u00a3939,782 (US$1.25 million) or face an extra six years in prison.<\/p>\n

\"Edward
Edward Putman on his way to his 2019 trial, which resulted in a nine-year sentence. Now he\u2019s looking at an additional six unless he complies with a court order to forfeit just under \u00a31 million. (Image: Daily Mail<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Edward Putman<\/a>, 56, was sentenced to nine years in October 2019 for fraud by misrepresentation, ten years after he cashed in the bogus ticket.\u00a0Giles Knibbs, an IT worker for UK lottery operator Camelot, helped Putman concoct the scam. Knibbs committed suicide in 2015.<\/p>\n

The scheme began when Knibbs got his hands on a list of serial numbers of unclaimed winning lottery tickets that could still be claimed. Each serial number had two digits blacked out.<\/p>\n

Filling in the Gaps<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Knibbs and Putman realized that if they focused on one of those numbers and filled the two missing digits with every combination of 0-9, they would have 100 different serial numbers.<\/p>\n

\n

One of those would correspond exactly with the winning lottery tickets. The problem was, they wouldn\u2019t know which one. So, they created 100 counterfeit tickets, one for each possible combination. Then Putman went from store to store, presenting a different ticket in each until he found a match.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Each ticket had been deliberately damaged so that it had to be identified by its serial number rather than by its barcode.<\/p>\n

The matched ticket was accepted as genuine, and the money was paid out. And the pair would have gotten away with it had Putman not tried to stiff Knibbs for his cut.<\/p>\n

Consumed by Betrayal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to court documents, Knibbs told friends he had not received his \u00a31 million (US$1.3\u00a0million) share from Putman. Evidence suggests he was paid no more than \u00a3480,000 (US$642,000) in total.<\/p>\n

Knibbs was consumed by the betrayal, and his behavior became increasingly erratic. He revealed details of the plot to his friends, and in June 2015, broke into Putman\u2019s house, stealing his phone and breaking the wing mirrors on his car.<\/p>\n

When Putman complained to police, Knibbs was arrested for burglary, blackmail, and criminal damage. Petrified of prison, he took his own life just days before he was due to appear in court.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shortly after his death, Knibbs\u2019 friends anonymously informed authorities about the plot. But police were unable to build a case against Putman because Camelot had lost the fake ticket.<\/p>\n

Ticket Turns Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2017, the operator was fined \u00a33 million (US$4 million) by the UK Gambling Commission for failing to safeguard the ticket. The commission said at the time the win was very probably fraudulent. But Putman would likely get to keep the money.<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, in 2018, someone at Camelot found the ticket. Forensic analysis revealed it to be a fake that was printed on a different kind of paper than a genuine ticket.<\/p>\n

\n

At a proceeds of crime hearing at St Albans Crown Court, Judge Philip Grey said Putman had three months to cough up or face the consequences. The assets in question include a house and land in Hertfordshire, England where he had planned to build a hotel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Putman has previous convictions for rape, unlawful wounding, and Social Security fraud. He was imprisoned in 2012 for claiming $13,000 in welfare benefits despite having won the lottery three years prior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A scammer who \u201cwon\u201d \u00a32.5 million (US$3.3 million) on the UK National Lottery with a forged ticket has been ordered to hand over assets worth \u00a3939,782 (US$1.25 million) or face an extra six years in prison. Edward Putman, 56, was sentenced to nine years in October 2019 for fraud by misrepresentation, ten years after he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":199554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Edward Putman, lottery fraudster, faces six more years in prison unless he coughs up 1 million in assets in the next three months.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Edward Putman, lottery fraudster, faces six more years in prison unless he coughs up 1 million in assets in the next three months.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-27T22:17:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-28T21:14:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1908\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1146\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/\",\"name\":\"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-27T22:17:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-28T21:14:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Edward Putman, lottery fraudster, faces six more years in prison unless he coughs up 1 million in assets in the next three months.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg\",\"width\":1908,\"height\":1146,\"caption\":\"Richard Ortiz, main image, was stabbed to death in 1997. John Tortora, top left, has been cleared of his murder, after being accused by rival mobster Carmine Francomano, bottom left. (Image: The Journal News\/Casino.org)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison","description":"Edward Putman, lottery fraudster, faces six more years in prison unless he coughs up 1 million in assets in the next three months.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison","og_description":"Edward Putman, lottery fraudster, faces six more years in prison unless he coughs up 1 million in assets in the next three months.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-01-27T22:17:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-28T21:14:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1908,"height":1146,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/","name":"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-27T22:17:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-28T21:14:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Edward Putman, lottery fraudster, faces six more years in prison unless he coughs up 1 million in assets in the next three months.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/putman.jpg","width":1908,"height":1146,"caption":"Richard Ortiz, main image, was stabbed to death in 1997. John Tortora, top left, has been cleared of his murder, after being accused by rival mobster Carmine Francomano, bottom left. (Image: The Journal News\/Casino.org)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-lottery-fraudster-to-cough-up-1m-or-face-six-more-years-in-prison\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UK Lottery Fraudster to Cough Up \u00a31M or Face Six More Years in Prison"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}