Iowa Lottery officials say the attorney who claimed to have possession of the winning ticket in a $14.3 million jackpot has abandoned his claim.

Attorney Crawford Shaw abandoned the claim – which he confirmed was on behalf of a client in Belize – last Thursday, Iowa lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer told the Associated Press (AP).

The AP reported the Iowa Lottery said it had learned that Crawford Shaw, an attorney who said he represents a trust that owned a winning Iowa Lottery jackpot ticket, was “associated with criminal proceedings and bankruptcy filings in New York and Delaware.”

The AP identified Shaw as the former chief executive officer of Industrial Enterprises of America Inc., a bankrupt public company that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said was looted in a $100 million securities fraud scheme.

The Des Moines law firm that worked on the trust’s behalf issued a statement saying the identity of the buyer or buyers of the ticket were unknown even to Shaw.

The statement also said the trust offered to authorise the Iowa Lottery to pay the winnings, after taxes, to charities, but lottery officials declined, saying no payments would be made until the identities of the buyers were known.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the state Division of Criminal Investigation announced a criminal probe into the matter.

The Iowa Lottery has confirmed the authenticity of the winning Hot Lotto ticket.

The winning Hot Lotto ticket was bought at a Des Moines convenience store in December 2010, then went unclaimed for nearly a year before attorneys tried to claim the winning ticket through lottery officials less than two hours before it was due to expire.

Check out this news conference with Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich announcing the latest turn of events surrounding the mystery lottery ‘winner’…

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Baccarat is a popular game with Asian visitors to Las Vegas casinos.

Big-time gamblers, primarily from Asia, are flocking to Sin City to play baccarat and providing a big boost to the city’s casino revenue in the process.

In the days before Chinese New Year celebrations began this week, six Asian high-rollers sat down at the private baccarat tables at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas one day and began betting wagers of $100,000 to $200,000 a hand, the Associated Press reported.

In terms of casino revenue in Las Vegas, baccarat has easily surpassed blackjack and now represents nearly 60 per cent of the MGM Grand’s table games revenue over the past year.

The game has become especially popular this week, with tens of thousands of Asian tourists in Vegas to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

“For us to make money in gaming today without baccarat is almost impossible,” said Debra Nutton, senior vice-president of casino operations at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. “We need the big whales to make money.”

In Vegas lingo, a “whale” is a big-time gambler who easily wagers more in one night at the tables than most American families make in a year.

These “whales” are well-taken care of in the top casinos of Vegas, with plush, secluded gambling salons. Baccarat games in these secluded gambling salons often start out at a minimum $10,000 per hand.

The whales typically favour baccarat — a game romanticised in James Bond films and highly popular in the Asian gambling mecca of Macau and Singapore.

Nevada figures show that during the 12 months ending November 30, casinos statewide won $1.27 billion from baccarat players, with the game offered at a total of 258 tables in 24 casinos. Blackjack, meanwhile, raked in just $1.03 billion — even though it was offered at a significantly larger total of 2,810 tables in 151 casinos.

Slots are still the most popular and lucrative form of gambling in Nevada, with nearly 165,000 machines in over 330 locations.

A self-employed builder and his wife have come forward as the winners of last Friday’s EuroMillions lottery jackpot of nearly £41 million.

The couple said they plan to splash out on an executive box at Old Trafford – as well as a new carpet.

Gareth and Catherine Bull won £40,627,241 after matching the numbers from their Lucky Dip ticket with the winning numbers from the EuroMillions draw on January 20.

Mr Bull, 40, bought the winning ticket on a whim after he was unable to start work that day because it was raining.

The couple, from Mansfield in England, said they also want to take their two sons to Disneyland, Florida, but first thing’s first – the most pressing matter on 35-year-old Mrs Bull’s mind is her landing carpet.

She told a press conference: “I did say a carpet for my landing because it’s terrible, nobody’s allowed upstairs. It bothers me. I get to the top of the stairs every day and I’m like ‘I hate that carpet’.”

Mr Bull said he couldn’t believe he’d won when he checked his ticket, even though he thought his ticket matched a few of the numbers. He had to call his wife, who thought she was being “teased” by her husband while she was getting their sons ready for football.

Mrs Bull said: “You’re rubbing your eyes, you’re looking at the numbers and you’re trying to comprehend things. Thinking, ‘it must be four million maybe’ and they’ve got the dots and the dashes in the wrong places – there’s got to be some pence somewhere.”

Mr Bull said the couple do not plan to leave Mansfield or splash out on a glamorous mansion despite their massive win.

“All of this has happened at a crazy fast speed since Saturday and it is hard to keep up,” he said. “We have our dream home which we built from scratch and it is impossible to think about what we are going to do next yet.”

Other than the landing carpet, Mr Bull also wants to spend his winnings on an executive box at Old Trafford to watch his beloved Manchester United play, followed by a Range Rover Sport, a villa somewhere and a trip to Disneyland in Florida for the kids.

Mrs Bull, who works in health insurance, said she may still go back to work because she cannot spend her days shopping – a pastime she can’t stand so much she even has her groceries delivered.

A lucky lottery ticket holder based in the UK has won nearly £41 million after Friday’s EuroMillions draw.

Operators of the UK National Lottery, Camelot, said the winner scooped the EuroMillions rollover jackpot of £40,627,241 in Friday night’s draw, but is yet to come forward to claim the prize.

A Silicon Valley financial analyst revealed himself as the winner of a massive $208 million lottery jackpot prize on Friday at New York’s Long Island.

English lottery winner Charmaine Watson has invested £20,000 of her winnings into an anti-bullying musical which has opened in London.

A victim of sustained bullying during her school days, 31-year-old Watson decided to fight back by using the large chunk of her winnings to finance a rock musical with an anti-bullying message.

“The songs in this show make you feel you can achieve anything you want to,” she said. “I have always been one to go to every show I can and I’m really hoping that this will change some of the lives in the audience. If one child watches it and feels able to tell their parents or teachers about bullying, this will be the best lottery money I could ever have spent.”

The musical, Stand Tall, started out as a show for schools, based on the David and Goliath story.

“We are living the dream now because of all the interest,” said the show’s publicist, Michael Dove.

“I approached Charmaine to see if she was interested in investing, partly because she was local to us in Oxfordshire. She really bought into the show when she heard the music and that’s why we made her associate producer.”

Watson said her decision to invest £20,000 in Stand Tall was motivated by the bullying she endured at secondary school, an experience that caused her to suffer a complete loss of self-confidence.

“I was just the wrong face in the crowd. I was shy and they made fun of me for living in a council house, for my weight, my height, my hair colour – everything. They picked on me every day for five years and I hated going to school so much that I would make myself physically sick. One day I just ran home crying into my mother’s arms and she contacted the school. It took years for me to recover,” she said.

Watson won a £2.3 million lottery jackpot six years ago when she was struggling to raise her first child, Ryan, on her own.

“My grandad started buying me a lottery ticket every Wednesday after my 16th birthday, but that week he checked the wrong numbers,” she said. “On Friday, my phone was ringing from about five in the morning because my grandmother had checked them again. I went round to their house with my son and they held up the numbers to show me.”

Watson is still amazed by her win. “Even now it hasn’t sunk in. I am overwhelmed that I can give my children things I never had. I bought a home for my son and me, and I bought my mother her home too,” she said.

And even despite the financial risks in doing so, the opportunity to support a cause close to her heart far outweighed those risks for Watson.

“I spoke to my bank manager about investing in Stand Tall and he explained the risks, but I decided to take it into my own hands,” she said.

Iowa Lottery officials are trying to solve the intriguing mystery behind a year-old winning lottery ticket which was claimed less than two hours before deadline for a jackpot worth up to $14.3 million.

Two attorneys with Des Moines-based Davis Brown Law Firm turned up at Iowa Lottery headquarters at 2.10pm on Thursday, December 29 with the winning Hot Lotto ticket, just before the 4pm deadline.

They represent Hexam Investments Trust, whose trustee is a lawyer and businessman named Crawford Shaw from the wealthy town of Bedford, New York.

Shaw signed the ticket, which was validated as the winner, on behalf of the trust.

“It’s amazing things were cut that close. What if something had gone wrong? What if there had been a snowstorm? It was down to the wire,” said Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, which had installed a countdown clock, repeatedly issued public reminders about the ticket and had been making plans to give away Iowa’s portion of the unclaimed jackpot.

“We just continue to be thrilled that the ticket that came in does ultimately preserve the winner’s ability to claim this prize.”

But before they pay out the massive prize, Iowa Lottery officials said they will conduct a thorough investigation to make sure the ticket was legally purchased, possessed and presented.

The day after the deadline, they received calls from multiple, unrelated people claiming the ticket was stolen from them.

Steve Bogle, the Lottery’s vice president of security, said it had never faced similar circumstances in its 26-year history: a huge jackpot claimed so close before the deadline, a winner who sent lawyers to claim the prize rather than showing up in person, and a trust whose members weren’t immediately clear.

“Everybody’s curiosity is very high. We hope to be able to get all our questions answered and that everything works out so we can award this prize,” he said.

“We will do this as expeditiously as possible but we will be very thorough and comprehensive.”

Neubauer said it is not known whether 76-year-old Shaw is the winner or whether he simply represents others.

She said investigators were in “initial conversations” with him and making arrangements to meet him in person.

Security footage showing someone purchasing the winning ticket – with the winning numbers 3-12-16-26-33 and Hot Ball 11 – at a busy Des Moines convenience store on December 29, 2010 will be reviewed as part of the investigation.

Attorney Beau Gamble of the Davis Brown Law Firm claimed he had “no idea” who actually bought the ticket and his firm was simply representing the trust. Asked whether Shaw was the winner, Gamble said: “That will be up to the Lotto to decide. Mr Shaw is not claiming to be the winner. He’s just the trustee of the trust.”

Gamble added he wasn’t authorised to comment on any other details or “the mechanics” of how the ticket was found and sent to Iowa.

Lottery officials said they first heard from the law firm just two days before the deadline and were told it was representing a trust in connection with the jackpot. Neubauer said the ticket was shipped the next day through FedEx, presumably from New York, and arrived at the firm on deadline day.

“We look forward to learning the details we’ve all been wondering about these many months, such as: How did the winner find out he had the jackpot-winning ticket? How long has he known he’d won? Why did he wait until the last day to turn in the ticket?” Lottery CEO Terry Rich said. “Every winner’s situation is different, and it’s always fun to hear the story.”

Neubauer said the jackpot had an annuity value of $16.5 million when the prize was drawn, but has dropped to about $14.3 million because of a weak bond market. She said the winner has 60 days to decide whether to take the annuity or a cash payout of $10.75 million, which has not changed since the prize was drawn.

A group of employees at a California district school has struck luck twice – winning a lottery prize worth over a quarter of a million dollars after winning a $12 million lottery prize just last year.

State lottery officials announced on Friday that the same Montebello Unified School District employees who won $12 million last February have won a Mega Millions prize worth $262,743.

The group, which consists of 16 employees, has been playing together for over two years and is made up of part- and full-time clerical workers.

They purchased a new sound system for their school with their previous winnings and plan to spend some of their latest winnings on the school as well.

The California Lottery is a state-level fundraiser for public education. Lottery players have contributed more than $23 billion to education since it first started in 1985.

The school employees said they believe the third time’s the charm, and will therefore continue to play.

The winning numbers from the Mega Millions draw on December 2 were 48, 24, 51, 56 and 30.

The winners of a record £161 million EuroMillions jackpot, Colin and Chris Weir, have splashed out on a fleet of cars for their friends.

One friend was treated to a £80,000 Mercedes after being told by the winners to choose any car he wanted, the Daily Record reported.

The Scottish couple also gave a sales boost to their local Suzuki dealer after snapping up six vehicles from them.

Although they’re able to buy the world’s most expensive cars, the Weirs decided to buy themselves a new Suzuki each.

One source said: “Since their incredible win, they have helped out lots of friends but have done so discreetly. They don’t want any fuss but they have always been generous.

“One friend was told to literally pick any car he wanted and he chose a Merc.

“He’s understandably delighted although slightly self-conscious.

“Another woman who has struggled financially was given one of the Suzukis.

“A pal of 20 years, who has a business in the town, was also given a Suzuki but he’s denied it to a few people.

“Their friends are very loyal and not just because of the lottery win.”

One car recipient said: “I’ve told some people that it’s not true because there are so many mad stories going around the town.

“It may sound corny but the money won’t change them. A few people have grumbled but they don’t realise that the Weirs are giving the local economy an amazing boost.”

The Weirs spent £80,000 at their local Suzuki dealer, where they have been long-time customers.

Former TV cameraman Colin, 64, made several visits to the dealership to check out the range on offer.

Instead of going for the likes of a Bugatti Veyron or a Rolls-Royce Phantom for himself, he went for a less attention-grabbing Grand Vitara.

Suzuki service manager Ross Pearson said: “Colin and Christine requested we respect their privacy. I don’t want to say too much but they are certainly very good customers.”

The couple, who have two children and been married for 30 years, also bought an £850,000 property since their July win.

The stunning hillside property features a cinema, pool and stables over 23 acres with views over the Firth of Clyde. Tradesmen are currently in the process of transforming it into a dream home.

UK National Lottery operator Camelot has paid out record amounts of money to prize winners and good causes, with its draws and scratchcards becoming increasingly popular.

Camelot, which runs games including Lotto and National Lottery scratchcards, said winnings hit £1.7 billion in the six months leading up to September 24, up £300 million on the previous year, The Press Association reported.

The massive payout amount, which was given a big boost by Colin and Chris Weir’s £161 million record EuroMillions jackpot in August, means the Lottery has paid out a total of £40 billion since its launch in 1994 and created 2,700 millionaires.

Returns to good causes increased by 17 per cent to £918.3 million. The Lottery has now raised more than £650 million towards the London 2012 Olympics from sales of specially-designated games and is on track to hit a £750 million target.

Lottery sales also hit record levels, up by 20 per cent to £3.3 billion, as more people playing online and two “exceptional” EuroMillions rollover draws contributed to an “outstanding performance”.

Camelot said sales through its website and by regular subscriptions were up more than a third to £513.7 million.

Its performance was also boosted by putting on more draws, including a EuroMillions draw on Tuesday, and more online games.

Camelot chief executive Dianne Thompson said the sales increase had been achieved in the face of a challenging economic environment, a worldwide trend towards lower lottery sales and challenging high street conditions.

“We’ve made an extremely positive start to the financial year, raising a record amount for the good causes and paying out record sums in prize money to our players, which is what the National Lottery is all about,” she said.

Lottery funding has now raised a total of £27 billion for good causes and paid for 370,000 individual awards in the UK. This financial year, around 28 per cent of its revenue is expected to go to good causes, more than 50 per cent to prize winners, between five and six per cent  to retailers, four per cent on operating costs and 12 per cent in Government lottery duty. Between 0.3 and 0.5 per cent of revenue will be taken as profits.