The “lottery curse” appears to be working its malevolent power on the winner of Maine’s all-time biggest lottery jackpot, poisoning the relationships between the winner, his parents, and the mother of his child.

The anonymous $1.35 billion Mega Millions winner is suing his ex because he claims she blabbed to his parents about the win without his consent.

Now his former partner has hit back against her wealthy accuser, alleging misconduct on his part. Meanwhile, the winner’s father claims he is “not the son I knew.”

Doe Vs. Smith

The former couple are referred to in court documents by the pseudonyms “John Doe” and “Sara Smith,” respectively. That’s because Maine allows lottery winners to remain anonymous.

Doe sued Smith in November 2023, claiming she had violated a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) when she told his dad and stepmom about his newfound riches.

Doe wants an injunction preventing Smith from disclosing any further information about the jackpot. He has also asked the court to order Smith to list every person she told and pay compensatory damages of “an amount to be determined at trial, but no less than $100,000 per unauthorized disclosure.”

Rift Deepens

But in recently filed documents in the case both Smith and the man’s father claim that Doe himself told his parents about the win. Doe also demanded his father no longer speak to Smith, which caused a rift between the two men.

“I told him… ‘You are not the son I knew,’” claimed the father in court documents. “He got angry, calling me a ‘dictator’ and an ‘a***hole.’ I have not heard from my son since, and he has not done any of (the) things he promised.”

Smith alleges in a recent court filing that Doe has hired a security team that allegedly follows her and her daughter around on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Doe claims that Smith is attempting to expose his identity. He also alleges she falsely accused him of trying to “kidnap” their daughter because he refused to pay for her and her new boyfriend to go on vacation.

Texas political newcomer Cheryl Bean, who will take part in a legislative primary runoff later this month, has repeated her opposition to casino resorts in the state.

In her race to capture the Republican nomination for the Texas House District 97 seat, she recently told CBS News in Texas, “I’m not a fan of gambling.”

One of her objections is that with casinos, the jobs created lead to more union activity. The jobs may be filled by illegal migrants coming across the border, she said. “It gives them a pathway to citizenship,” Bean added about the migrants.

Beyond that, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, also a Republican, is opposed to gambling legislation. He’s said it won’t pass as long as he stays in office and dominates the state Senate. Patrick has endorsed Bean in the primary.

Waste of Money

“It’s a moot point and a waste of taxpayer money to go down that path,” Bean said about casino resort proposals.

Also, gambling is currently available in nearby states with travel times of just two or three hours from anywhere in Texas.

“That’s fine with me,” Bean said.

Bean will face John McQueeney in the May 28 Republican primary. Another key issue in the race is border security.

The House seat is currently held by state Rep. Craig Goldman, a Republican who is seeking to get elected to Congress.

Gambling Proposals

As it now stands, Class III (commercial casino) gambling is prohibited in Texas. So too are online sports gambling and in-person sports gambling at sportsbooks.

In March, Las Vegas Sands filed a new petition to bring casino gaming to Texas. Many lobbyists have been working on the issue in the state and new legislative proposals are likely in upcoming sessions.

Expanded gaming is in Texas’ future, the only question is when, University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus recently told Casino.org. He explained that casino gaming is a big change and will take a few legislative sessions to pass.

A proposed expansion at the Encore Boston Harbor has been postponed indefinitely after a disagreement broke out between casino officials and city leaders over fees and taxes.

The first phase of the expansion was to include 142K square feet of additional floor space. The addition was to be located across from the Everett, Mass. existing gaming complex.

Wynn Disappointed

The delay was revealed in a Wynn Resorts earning call last week. Wynn CEO Craig Billings called the stoppage “disappointing” but says the company has “numerous other development projects globally where we can redirect the capital we intended to deploy in Boston.”

The $400M addition would include more entertainment, restaurants, and gaming facilities. It was expected to include a 979-seat theater, as well as a seven-story parking garage with more than 2,000 spaces for vehicles. The addition would also include a poker room and a sports betting parlor.

The Memoire nightclub would be relocated from the current casino building to the addition. A pedestrian skywalk would connect the existing complex to the addition.

Negotiations Fail

“We remain optimistic about the project fulfilling the city’s and our shared goal of developing an exciting and vibrant destination district on Lower Broadway with restaurants, hotels, theaters, and other recreational uses,” Wynn Resorts said in a recent statement to Massachusetts TV station WBTS.

However, it has become apparent that we are unable to negotiate an agreement with the City of Everett regarding property taxes, impact fees, and infrastructure improvements in a timely fashion. Until these issues are addressed with a financially viable resolution we have a responsibility to our shareholders, and cannot continue to incur project costs.”

A planned second phase addition also would include two additional hotel towers with 800 guestrooms at the Encore property. Encore currently has 671 hotel rooms, which are commonly sold out on weekends.

Everett city officials didn’t provide an immediate comment in response to the company statements.

In addition, Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) announced last week that it’s aware of the project stoppage.

Obviously, we’re all prepared and ready to move forward as things develop further,” MGC Executive Director Dean Serpa said on Thursday.

In 2022, Wynn Resorts previously paused the permit process on the development, to see if it planned facilities were the best use of the property.

The Encore Boston Harbor opened in 2019 at a $2.6B price tag.

Three men are scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday after some 213K fentanyl pills were found in a Henderson, Nev. gaming property parking lot.

Last Wednesday, a Clark County grand jury indicted the defendants, Jesus Aguayo, David Estrada, and Ulyses Lopez-Vazquez in connection with the drug trafficking.

Each was charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, transporting a controlled substance, and conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substance Act.

The suspects were allegedly taking part in the handoff of the 44 pounds of fentanyl pills, according to Las Vegas TV station KLAS. The pills, described by police as “M30s,” looked like 30 mg oxycodone tablets, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Last August, Henderson police officers found out suspected fentanyl was to be driven from Arizona to the casino. The destination was identified as Henderson’s Sunset Station Hotel & Casino, according to the Review-Journal.

Pills Came from Mexico

The pills originally were transported into the United States from Mexico, the report revealed.

Officers staked out the casino lot before approaching a Dodge Charger where they found the illicit drugs inside the trunk. Seated in the car were Aguayo, Estrada, and Lopez-Vazquez.

The men were arrested on August 27, and appeared in Henderson Justice Court following their arrests. Each posted a $20K bond and was released from custody. If convicted, the men could face years in prison.

A fourth unidentified person who was apparently at the casino lot to purchase the illegal drugs fled from the crime scene. That suspect was never charged.

Fentanyl is Deadly Problem

Fentanyl continues to be a challenge for health and police officials in Clark County, as well as nationwide.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) told the Las Vegas Weekly.

Last year, Clark County saw 237 fentanyl-related deaths. Clark County also saw a 97% jump in fatalities when fentanyl was mixed with methamphetamine (meth) or cocaine from 2020 to 2023, according to data from the SNHD, as reported by the Nevada Current.

One of the biggest dangers is fentanyl being mixed with stimulants because one of the drugs of choice here in Clark County, or specifically Las Vegas, is methamphetamine, as a party city,” Katarina Pulver, health educator for SNHD, told the Weekly.

“Many people are taking what they think is methamphetamine or cocaine to go out and have a good time, but it’s laced with fentanyl,” she added.

Minnesota harness racing track Running Aces has added two more casinos to a federal racketeering suit that claims tribal operators in the state are running “illegal” games.

Last month, the Columbus, Minn.-based racino sued the Grand Casino Hinckley, Grand Casino Mille Lacs, and Treasure Island Resort. Running Aces claims they conduct class III card games that are not covered by their tribal-state gaming compacts, such as Three Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’Em.

The Grand Casinos are owned by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Treasure Island belongs to the Prairie Island Indian Community.

In an amended complaint filed Tuesday, Running Aces added Mystic Lake and Little Six Casinos, which are owned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC).

‘IGRA Violated’

The racino accuses all five casinos of violating the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), as well as state laws, by operating not only class III card games but also “video games of chance,” such as slots.

The tribes are permitted by the state to offer these games under the terms of their compacts. Minnesota was the first state to sign compacts with its federally recognized tribes after the enactment of IGRA in 1988.

But the Minnesota criminal code “specifically prohibits and makes illegal the playing of electronic video games of chance for any person,” as the lawsuit notes.

This is something the tribes “know only too well,” per the lawsuit. When Running Aces applied to Minnesota Racing Commission to “modestly expand its ‘dealer assist’ table games,” the SMSC objected on the grounds that “video games of chance are not permitted in Minnesota,” the suit states.

‘No Merit’

“All that we have ever sought was to be treated fairly, compete on a level playing field, take advantage of improvements within the pari-mutuel environment, and operate without fear of being eliminated,” Running Aces president and CEO Taro Ito said in a statement to local CBS affiliate KSTP-TV. “It is our sincere desire to have our day in court and let the facts determine the outcome.”

But the SMSC dismissed the Running Aces lawsuit as having “no merit,” labeling it a “desperate stunt to attack the good reputation of tribes and tribal gaming” in a statement to FOX 9.

All gaming conducted at Mystic Lake and Little Six Casinos complies with tribal law, federal law, and the gaming compact that was executed in 1989,” read the statement.

The SMSC claims Running Aces is seeking to “mislead the public and influence the final stages of the Minnesota Legislature’s 2024 session,” to prevent the passage of a bill that would hand a sports betting monopoly to the tribes.

The Ohio Lottery has admitted that the names and social security numbers of more than 538K customers were compromised in a cyberattack on Christmas Eve last year.

In a regulatory filing, the lottery said it concluded its investigation into the attack on April 5, adding that there was no evidence the stolen data had been misused by any malicious actors. It didn’t attribute the attack to a group or individual.

However, on December 27, a ransomware group calling itself “DragonForce” claimed responsibility for the breach.

Dark Web Data Dump

DragonForce claimed it swiped 3 million records, or 600GB worth of data, 94 GB of which the group said it had made available for download in CSV format on the dark web. It asserted that dates of birth and home addresses are included in the data dump, which appears to contradict the Ohio Lottery’s filing.

In letters to the victims, the lottery apologized for the incident, adding that it was “committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information in our possession and have taken many precautions to safeguard it.”

“We continually evaluate and modify our practices and internal controls to enhance the security and privacy of your personal information,” it added.

The lottery said it has offered those affected 12 months of credit monitoring and ID theft protection.

What is DragonForce?

DragonForce appears to be a new threat actor, and the Ohio Lottery appears to have been its first victim. DragonForce has gone on to target Coca-Cola in Singapore and Yakult Australia.

In mid-March, the government of Palau, an island nation in the Western Pacific, was hit by a ransomware attack that knocked out its computer servers. DragonForce claimed responsibility, but so did another group, LockBit.

DragonForce is apparently unrelated to the Malaysian pro-Palestine hacktivist group of the same name whose attacks against government agencies in the Middle East are motivated by politics and not financial gain.

On Tuesday, New Hampshire’s Republican Governor Chris Sununu signed a bill to prohibit greyhound simulcasting from January 1, 2027. The state joins Kansas, Colorado, and Massachusetts in recently outlawing the broadcasts, in which races are streamed in real time, enabling bettors who are far from the racetrack to wager on races.

Live greyhound racing has been illegal in New Hampshire since 2009, but the new law puts an end to all betting on greyhounds for good.

Currently, only one venue in the state offers simulcasting, the racebook at the Brook in Seabrook. New Hampshire carved simulcasting out of the 2009 ban as a way to protect the economic interests of the Brook, which was then known as Seabrook Greyhound Park.

In the ensuing years, the Brook has transformed itself into a flourishing casino, offering charitable gaming via sports betting and historical horse racing machines (HHRs). Greyhound simulcasting is no longer a crucial part of its business model.

Connecticut Bans Live Racing

The move comes a week after Connecticut’s Democratic Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill to ban live dog racing. His is the 43rd state to outlaw the sport.

There have been no active dog tracks in Connecticut since the closure of Plainfield Greyhound Park and Shoreline Star Greyhound Park in 2005, but the bill’s supporters wanted to ensure that the tracks could never reopen. Simulcasting remains legal in the state.

Dog racing is a cruel activity and it has no place in Connecticut,” Governor Lamont said in a statement. “It’s mindboggling to think that at one time people considered this a legitimate sport, and I give credit to animal advocacy groups for their activism that has raised awareness about the abuse and extreme conditions these dogs face, leading to bans in nearly every state across the country. Signing this bill is an easy decision.”

‘Walls Closing In’

The move represents another nail in the coffin for a dwindling sport in the US. Live dog racing is now confined to just two venues, Wheeling Island Casino & Racetrack and Mardi Gras Casino & Resort, both in West Virginia.

Florida, once the epicenter of the sport in America, discontinued greyhound racing at the end of 2020. That’s after residents voted to change the state constitution to ban betting on the sport. An overwhelming 69% of residents backed the amendment.

Arkansas’ last track, Southland, pulled the plug at the end of 2022.

“The walls are closing in on greyhound racing in the United States,” Carey Thiel, executive director of Grey2K USA Worldwide, an advocacy group for greyhound protection, told Casino.org. “Betting on American dog races is down by a whopping 47% since 2019, and one state after another is severing ties with this cruel industry.”

Police are investigating possible sex trade activity in the area of a Pennsylvania gaming property and a nearby hotel.

As recently as late last month, Upper Merion Township Police Department detectives assigned to the special investigations unit (SIU) were searching for those involved in a suspected prostitution ring at the Valley Forge Casino’s Stardust Hotel in King of Prussia, Pa., according to Patch.

The investigation was launched after a woman advertised her services on a website. Police also received tips regarding suspicious activity around the hotel.

Detectives put the hotel area under surveillance on March 27 and waited in a parking lot to see if the woman was there.

During the police operation, the suspect was seen leaving the hotel. Officers asked the woman to provide identification. She gave police a name, officers said, but detectives quickly realized it was fictitious.

Resisting Arrest

Following a short struggle, the woman was placed under arrest. Upon searching her, police said they found drug paraphernalia, an unspecified amount of suspected crack cocaine, and syringes.

She was charged with giving a false ID to law enforcement, resisting arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia, and drug possession.

It also was discovered that the same woman was wanted on a warrant for drug charges by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, police said.

Local news reports didn’t identify the woman or provide her age or address.

More Drug Counts

Two men also were with the woman at the hotel.

He was charged with drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Both the man and the woman later were booked at Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Charges are now pending in local court.

It’s unknown if the woman or either man will face prostitution-related charges.

The second man wasn’t charged and was released from police custody. He wasn’t identified in local news reports.

It appears that police investigation of possible prostitution and related criminal activity at the hotel is continuing.

A Bethlehem, Penn. man who allegedly operated a voucher-counterfeiting scheme for skill-gaming machines across northeastern Pennsylvania was charged last week with felony theft and forgery.

Anthony Diehl targeted convenience stores, presenting bogus “winning” tickets either in person or through his recruited network of vulnerable individuals, mainly drug addicts, according to prosecutors. These individuals would typically cash in the vouchers, either in exchange for drugs or for a cut of the illegally obtained “winnings.”

In this way, the network bilked numerous convenience stores and gas stations in multiple counties out of more than $20K, prosecutors said.

Diehl is accused of creating the vouchers himself using chemicals and printers to alter the information and inflate the prizes.

Return to the Scene of the Crime

Diehl was caught after he returned to the scene of an alleged crime – namely, the Carbon Mini-Mart in Palmerton.

On January 28, 2023, a man matching Diehl’s description cashed out two vouchers for a total of $695 at the convenience store, which were later discovered to be forgeries, and the incident was reported to police.

Responders arrived to find Diehl and another individual. The accomplice told them Diehl had provided him with the ticket to cash and that staff had refused the request.

Police searched Diehl’s vehicle and found a printer, a laptop, and other equipment. Investigators who later examined the laptop discovered more than 100 forged vouchers inside Microsoft Word documents, as well as the watermarks of numerous skill game manufacturers.

Google Searches

His Google search results showed hundreds of searches for businesses throughout Pennsylvania that deployed gaming terminals.

Investigators were able to match some of the vouchers on Diehl’s laptop with those that had been fraudulently cashed at other stores in the state.

The full list of charges against Diehl are corrupt organizations, conspiracy to violate, forgery, theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, unlawful use of computer, unlawful duplication, possessing instrument of crime with intent, and theft by deception.

He is currently free on $100K unsecured bail and is due in court on May 31.

A North Carolina woman has found herself more than half a million dollars richer after buying a digital instant-win ticket completely by accident.

The freak win occurred when Cynthia Harris of Cary, NC was messing about on the North Carolina Education Lottery website. Harris believed she was playing the free demo version of the Bison Bonanza game. In fact, she had unwittingly bought a $2 ticket for the game.

This wasn’t just any old ticket, it was the “largest digital instant win since the lottery began offering digital instant games in November,” lottery officials wrote in a May 14 news release.

Harris instantly won $736,874 — $526,866 after taxes – overcoming odds of 15.5 million to one to land the progressive jackpot game’s top prize.

“I was like, ‘Wait how did this just happen?’” said a bewildered Harris. “It still hasn’t set in yet.”

“I am a blessed person,” she confirmed.

Long Shot

Harris isn’t the only blessed person to win the lottery inadvertently. In April, Miriam Long, of Christiansburg, Va., won $1 million after hitting a wrong button, leading to an accidental Powerball ticket purchase.

Fortunately, those numbers matched the first five balls that came out of the lottery machine in that night’s draw.

“It was the best mistake of my life,” reflected Long.

Stranger Danger

But the prize for the flukiest lottery win ever goes to Los Angeles woman LaQuedra Edwards.

In November 2022, Edwards was happily feeding $40 into a lottery ticket vending machine at an LA supermarket when she was bumped by “some rude person,” causing her to push the wrong button.

“He just bumped into me, didn’t say a thing, and just walked out the door,” Edwards complained.

“I almost crashed my car,” she said, although we’re not sure she should have been driving while scratching.

Edwards was able to go out and buy a house, all thanks to her collision with a very rude stranger.