Americo Lopes, a New Jersey construction worker who scored a Mega Millions lottery jackpot in 2009, tried to cheat his fellow workers out of their share of the pool by claiming the ticket as exclusively his own, a jury has ruled.  For the second time in a month, someone bought a winning multimillion-dollar Powerball ticket in Rhode Island.  The winning ticket for a $16.5 million lottery jackpot was turned in Thursday less than two hours before it expired, the head of the Iowa Lottery said.  Officials with the Iowa Lottery are seeking the winner of a $10.75 million Hot Lotto jackpot who has until 4 p.m. Thursday to claim it.  One hundred and eighty days apparently wasn't enough time for the buyer of a winning $77 million lottery ticket to come forward.  Someone in New York is holding a Powerball ticket worth $202 million, according to a New York Lottery official.  The single largest winning lottery ticket ever sold in New York's Mega Millions drawing has been claimed, a lottery spokeswoman said Tuesday.  Seven New Yorkers claimed a $319 million jackpot in the multistate Mega Millions lottery Thursday.  Seven Albany coworkers who won the Mega Million jackpot claim $319 million, a record setting figure for New York state.  Despite reports that seven state government workers held the winning $319 million ticket in the Mega Millions lottery, as of Sunday, no one had come forward to claim the prize, a New York Lottery spokeswoman said.  A winning ticket purchased in upstate New York had the right numbers in Friday night's Mega Millions lottery, in which last-minute ticket sales increased the jackpot from $312 million to $319 million, according to the New York Lottery.  A lucky band of ground zero construction workers scored a $250,000 prize in a Christmas Eve Mega Millions lottery drawing, picking five of six numbers correctly, the New York Lottery says.  A Washington state couple comes forward to claim their share of the $380 million Mega Millions jackpot.  She was a mother of three living in a small apartment and working four jobs. And then, as if in a fairy tale, she won her state's lottery last year. But the story doesn't have the happy ending you might expect.  Mega Millions jackpot winners and Washington state residents Jim and Carolyn McCullar stepped forward on Thursday to claim their half of a $380 million prize during a Washington State Lottery news conference.  The actor, who played unlucky lotto winner Hurley, has a warning for this week's winners  Four of the numbers drawn in an estimated $380 million Mega Millions lottery matched those of "Lost" character Hurley.  A family in Washington that was one of two jackpot winners in the Mega Millions drawing will speak to reporters about its windfall Thursday.  It paid to be a "Lost" fan Tuesday night. That is, it paid $150.  Four of the six numbers that haunted Hurley on the show hit on Tuesday's $350 million drawing  Two winning tickets, from Idaho and Washington, will share a $380 million Mega Millions jackpot, the second largest in U.S. history.  Gamblers lined up Tuesday at newsstands and gas stations in 41 states and Washington, D.C., hoping to overcome astronomical odds and win one of the largest jackpots in U.S. lottery history.  A group of friends got lucky when they bought a winning Powerball ticket at a Detroit-area porn shop.  A group of friends got lucky when they bought a winning Powerball ticket at a Detroit-area porn shop.  A lotto ticket bought at a barbecue joint pays off big for a California couple  When dozens of states start selling both Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets for the first time ever, winners may take home jackpots that aren't so mega.  Authorities in Florida are offering a $5,000 reward for information on a multimillion dollar lotto winner who has been missing since April.  Millions of lottery players will be able to double their bets because of a deal announced Wednesday by the two powerhouses of the business.  Undeterred by the miniscule odds, people were lining up Friday for a chance to score the estimated $333 million Mega Millions jackpot.  The man who bought the winning Mega Millions ticket talks about his group's good fortune.  Ten co-workers from New Jersey say they will split a $216 million Mega Millions jackpot, thanks to the five bucks they each kicked into a pool.  In the Mega Millions Lotto, 15 municipal employees in Piqua, Ohio claimed the $207 million jackpot.  The winner of last week's $57 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot is a registered sex offender who also pleaded guilty to two breaking and entering charges in the 1980s  Four winning tickets were sold -- one in each of four states -- for a Mega Millions jackpot worth an estimated $330 million, lottery officials said early Saturday.  Question 1: I am interested in purchasing foreclosed properties on the market. Do you have any advice how to get started? - Skiff, California  Brad Duke, 34, a manager for five Gold's Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005. He spent the first month of his new life assembling a team of financial advisors. His goal: to use his winnings to become a billionaire. Here's what Duke has done with his money so far.  A dispute over a winning lottery ticket would have cost Indiana's Hoosier Lottery $5 to resolve in 1997. Now it will cost more than $1 million to settle in court.  Eight meat processing workers came forward Wednesday to claim the $365 million Powerball jackpot, the largest lottery prize in U.S. history.  The odds to win were one in 2.9 million. But, suddenly, a surge of people came forward with winning Powerball tickets, claiming at least $100,000.  The woman who claimed to have lost a winning lottery ticket and then acknowledged that she lied about it was charged with one count of filing a false police report, a South Euclid, Ohio, police spokeswoman said Friday.  An Ohio woman who claims to have lost the winning ticket in last month's $162 million Mega Millions lottery was convicted of misusing a credit card while working at a Cleveland-area drugstore five years ago, court records show.
As wannabe millionaires across the country try their luck at the Mega Millions lottery, hoping to hit the record-breaking $540 million jackpot, experts are warning them to beware of the perils of a sudden win.