Russian Woman Steals 700 Lottery Tickets, Wins Nothing, Faces Prison

A resident of Russia's Primorye region stole more than 700 lottery tickets but failed to win anything, the Kommersant newspaper said, citing the prosecutor's office.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Santeri Viinamäki, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Lottery tickets

The woman worked at a lottery ticket shop in the city of Bolshoy Kamen. Authorities reported that the 49-year-old seller took over 700 tickets during the course of a year, with a total value of around 400,000 rubles ($5,300). None of the tickets turned out to be winning ones.

Investigators say the woman used her position to appropriate the tickets gradually, expecting at least some winnings. However, her plan completely failed, leaving her without any financial gain.

The suspect now faces charges of large-scale theft committed through abuse of official position.

If convicted, she could face up to six years in prison.