A  50-year-old from Calabria is on trial in Rome for attempted fraud after a prize office spotted a torn and taped “Miliardario Maxi” ticket.A man from the southern Italian province of Cosenza is on trial in Rome, accused of trying to claim a €10 million prize with a scratch card made from two losing tickets stuck together with sticky tape.The trial opened on Wednesday before a single-judge panel at Rome’s criminal court, newspaper Il Messaggero reports. The first witnesses answered questions from the prosecutor and the lawyer for civil party Lotterie Nazionali. The company is the concessionaire for Italy’s customs and monopolies agency. According to the charge sheet, the 50-year-old went to the Lotterie Nazionali prize office on Viale del Campo Boario on 22 August 2019. He presented a “Il Miliardario Maxi” scratch card and claimed a win of €10,000,540. Staff noticed the ticket had been torn horizontally, with sections held together by adhesive tape. Numbers in the “maxi bonus” area (20) and the winning numbers (56 and 19) matched those in the “your numbers” row, and an “X5” multiplier appeared to produce the prize he claimed. Checks showed that the card had not been a winner in its original form. Prosecutors say it was assembled from two different non-winning tickets. The prize he claimed is also not among those the game offers. Il Miliardario Maxi costs €20 and has a top prize of €5 million, with a second prize of €2 million. Prosecutors say the man carried out acts “unequivocally directed” at securing an unjust profit but failed “for reasons independent of his will”. The fake ticket was seized. The next hearing is on 11 January, when further witnesses will be heard and the prosecutor is due to present his closing arguments. Lotterie Nazionali has faced similar “cut and stitch” attempts before, in which two losing tickets are joined to create an apparent winner. Photo credit: D-VISIONS / Shutterstock.com

A man from the southern Italian province of Cosenza is on trial in Rome, accused of trying to claim a €10 million prize with a scratch card made from two losing tickets stuck together with sticky tape. The trial opened on Wednesday before a single-judge panel at Rome’s criminal court, newspaper Il Messaggero reports. The first witnesses answered questions from the prosecutor and the lawyer for civil party Lotterie Nazionali. The company is the concessionaire for Italy’s customs and monopolies agency. According to the charge sheet, the 50-year-old went to the Lotterie Nazionali prize office on Viale del Campo Boario on 22 August 2019. He presented a “Il Miliardario Maxi” scratch card and claimed a win of €10,000,540. Staff noticed the ticket had been torn horizontally, with sections held together by adhesive tape. Numbers in the “maxi bonus” area (20) and the winning numbers (56 and 19) matched those in the “your numbers” row, and an “X5” multiplier appeared to produce the prize he claimed. Checks showed that the card had not been a winner in its original form. Prosecutors say it was assembled from two different non-winning tickets. The prize he claimed is also not among those the game offers. Il Miliardario Maxi costs €20 and has a top prize of €5 million, with a second prize of €2 million. Prosecutors say the man carried out acts “unequivocally directed” at securing an unjust profit but failed “for reasons independent of his will”. The fake ticket was seized. The next hearing is on 11 January, when further witnesses will be heard and the prosecutor is due to present his closing arguments. Lotterie Nazionali has faced similar “cut and stitch” attempts before, in which two losing tickets are joined to create an apparent winner. Photo credit: D-VISIONS / Shutterstock.com