I’ve always said that if you want to have really bad gambling odds, you should play the lottery. Well, some genius in Ohio tried to use lottery tickets to fund her gambling habit. In her defense, she was stealing the lottery tickets, so she wasn’t really losing money there.

Deborah Strong used to work at a Kroger store and part of her job duties involved refilling the lottery scratch-off ticket machine when it was empty. Somewhere along the line, she got to thinking, Hey, I bet no one would notice if I just stuck some of these tickets in my pockets. I can steal thousands of them over time and scratch them off and win big money! I can then blow that big money by spending it at a casino! And the best part is that no one could ever find out! It’s perfect! I really am a genius!

I have not analyzed Ms. Strong and cannot testify to her level of intelligence but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I believe she was wrong if she actually thought that “genius” part. Depending on who you ask, Strong stole either $189,000 or $530,000 worth of scratch-off tickets. Yeah, I know that’s a big difference. Kroger officials estimate that they lost out on $530,000 of revenue from Strong pocketing the tickets, but in court Strong admitted to a theft of $189,000, though she didn’t seem clear on that amount, either.

When asked about the money, she said that it didn’t seem like that much and was quick to point out that “a lot of them are losers,” so it’s not like she “got that much money.” So her defense against prison time only makes her plan look way dumber. Yeah, a lot of the tickets she stole are completely worthless, and yet she’s going to prison just the same.

Yesterday, the judge sentenced Strong to five years in prison.

Of the many flaws of Strong’s plan, this one sticks out: If none of the tickets are big winners, then she risked going to jail for nothing and didn’t make enough money for it to be worth the risk. However, if she were to scratch off any big winners, when they are redeemed the Lottery Commission requires that the winner submit her Social Security number. That’s how she was caught.

Once Kroger determined that they had a problem with lottery ticket theft, they began to go through the names of lottery winners who redeemed big cash prizes. They then found Strong’s name next to tickets worth $5,000 and $10,000. After that, it didn’t take much time to build a case against Strong.

After all, this isn’t her first time stealing from an employer. In 2001 she stole $14,150 from Cash City and while working as a teller for Provident Bank, she stole $20,000. In both cases, she stole the money to fund a gambling habit. As a result of her prior convictions, she was placed on probation for four years and was ordered to repay the employers, stay away from the Indiana riverboat casinos and attend weekly Gamblers’ Anonymous meetings.

Now she has a lot more money to pay back. In addition, though I don’t think she’ll be able to attend her meetings, Ms. Strong has plenty of time to think about gambling responsibly or not at all. A lot of people will look at her prison sentence and ask “was it worth it?” For me, there’s something else, though. If Strong stole $530,000 worth of tickets, that’s a lot of tickets to scratch. As the judge joked, she must have carpal tunnel by now.

An elderly man died yesterday after chasing his robber from a casino. The 91-year-old man – whose name has not yet been released – was playing at a Detroit casino when a man snatched his $240 prize ticket and ran. The victim then chased him outside the casino and pointed him out to a police officer. After the police offer arrested the suspect, the victim collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital. He was then pronounced dead upon arrival.

The incident happened in the middle of broad daylight, at approximately 2:00 PM, according to the Detroit Police Department. The victim’s cause of death has not yet been determined, but given the circumstances it is most likely cardiac arrest. The suspect is being held and has been charged with robbery.

I don’t know if it’s possible under Michigan law, but I would love to see this suspect charged with involuntary manslaughter. His action of robbing a 91-year-old man – a man who was likely targeted because of his age and poor health – and then running away led to the victim’s death. The only problem I see with that charge sticking is that the victim chose to chase after the robber. Still, anytime you rob someone and run, you have to assume there is a good chance they will chase you. Causing stress in a 91-year-old man and then making him chase you is certainly negligent in my mind. Criminal negligence that leads to the death of another person would be involuntary manslaughter.

I have tried to find Michigan’s statutes on manslaughter and could not and I am no legal expert, so I don’t know if it’s realistic to seek a manslaughter conviction, but one thing is for certain: legally or not, that robber is morally responsible for the victim’s death. If convicted of manslaughter, he would face up to 15 years in prison.

Daniel Tzvetkoff doesn’t appear to be a bright man. After allegedly ripping off lots of online casino operators, he showed up at a conference in Las Vegas that was full of them and was surprised when he ended up in jail.

Let’s go back to the beginning. Mr. Tzvetkoff, who is an Australian citizen, was arrested on Friday for bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to operate and finance an illegal gambling business. According to the indictment, he created fake websites for shell companies and used those companies to engage in financial transactions with financial institutions. All transactions were sent by these shell companies. Mr. Tzvetkoff allegedly used an Automated Clearing House (ACH) system to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars between the United States and the British Virgin Islands.

Using the ACH transactions, Tzvetkoff, former co-owner of IntaBill, allegedly moved money from the bank accounts of online gamblers in America to his offshore shell companies. From there, he moved the funds to accounts at online casinos. The shell companies were used to move money back and forth between the online casinos and the player’s accounts.

The American legal system has a term for those types of transactions: money laundering. According to the indictment, the online casinos stopped doing business with Tzvetkoff in March of 2009 because he had stolen $100 million from them. On Friday, Tzvetkoff appeared at a conference in Las Vegas attended by representatives from many of those online casinos. Not surprisingly, a tip was called in to the FBI and Tzvetkoff was arrested a short time later.

I think there are some lessons to be learned here. First of all, don’t launder money or commit bank fraud. Secondly, if you rip off a group of people for $100 million, don’t go hang out with them at a social event.

If convicted, Tzvetkoff could spend 75 years in prison and pay back at least $543 million in fines and restitution.