Wallingford Men Accused of Rigging Lottery Machines for Additional Prize Payouts: Report

Wallingford, CT — Two Wallingford men are accused of rigging a lottery game at a New Haven store they operated that resulted in the store receiving more than $200,000 in additional prize payouts in the scheme, according to the Meriden Record-Journal.

The Record-Journal reports Rahul Gandhi, the store’s manager, and Prakunj Patel, the owner, were arrested by state authorities in March and have yet to enter a plea in the case. Gandhi was in court this week and both men are scheduled to return in September.

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During the investigation, it was discovered that the 5 Card Cash game could be manipulated where a clerk could see the symbols for the next ticket during the printing process and could either cancel or proceed, according to the Record-Journal.

Stores receive a prize payout for selling winning tickets and authorities have expanded the investigation to include an additional 20 retailers with suspected fraudulent activity, according to the Record-Journal.

The CT Lottery suspended the 5 Card Cash game last November due to the manipulation of the terminals.

“The Department of Consumer Protection is investigating the retailers alleged to have manipulated the lottery’s terminals so they could produce an instant winning 5 Card Cash ticket,” lottery officials said in a press release at the time. “The Lottery will consider options for the game in the future. No other games were affected.”

Read more at the Meriden Record-Journal here.