A total of 12 people were arrested by the Special Currency Police Unit in Italy of the Guardia di Finanza due to allegedly cheating the lottery. The individuals were connected to four Scratch & Win lottery jackpots, two that had grand prizes of seven million euros each. The other two were worth five million euros. Four of those arrested were employees of Lottomatica Holding, a subsidiary of IGT.
Reports indicate that from 2015 until 2019, the employees of Lottomatica used confidential information of the winning tickets and the retailers. The code of ethics within the IGT company prohibits employees from taking part in any games operated by the company. So to avoid this issue, the employees used their relatives to complete the scheme.
Relatives went to the locations and purchased lottery tickets. They kept purchasing the tickets until they hit the jackpot. The arrested individuals now face several charges including aggravated fraud, self-laundering of illicit capital, receiving stolen goods and having unauthorized access to computer systems.
IGT was not happy that its employees were part of a scam. In a statement on the matter, the company said they take the incident very seriously and have since the investigation into the matter began. They have cooperated with the Judicial Authority to help move the investigation along and want to ensure that the games provided are protected as well as the interests of customers.
The four employees were suspended as soon as IGT found out the investigation was taking place. The company not only worked with the Judicial Authority but also conducted an internal investigation to evaluate the situation. Internal systems have been reviewed along with processes that work to prevent fraud and criminal activity.
IGT has also worked to provide further protections to ensure that this type of incident does not happen again.
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