Northstar Lottery sued for manipulation

The group is accused for allegedly manipulating winning tickets.

US.- Northstar Lottery Group has been sued for alleged manipulation of winning tickets. The lawsuit was introduced by lawyers that represent lottery players. The state gave the management of its lottery to the private firm in 2011.

State lawmakers said back in December that they wanted the justice to investigate the Illinois Lottery over how they manage the prizes. Both political parties in Illinois called for an investigation of how the Illinois Lottery is managing scratch-off games. The former state lottery didn’t award most of the prizes that they promised in the biggest games they offer. Reporters said that most of the biggest-prize instant games didn’t award all of their grand prizes, and some of them didn’t award any at all. Overall, the games awarded less than 60 percent of their grand prizes ever since the private firm took the responsibility of the former state lottery.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday, even though it didn’t specify the compensations that they’re looking for. Derek Brandt, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit, said: “We allege that when Northstar realized that it was ahead of the consumer in a particular game, meaning it had sold a number of tickets that did not include the winner, it would stop the game and lock in its profits. The winning ticket never got sold.” They believe that the company should be prosecuted since its compensation was tied to the Lottery’s net income, thus giving Northstar an incentive to generate as much revenue as possible while paying out as little as possible in prizes and commissions.