Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992 TAG: 9203060382
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By WARREN FISKE and ROB EURE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
For the time being, however, they're no richer.
Lottery Director Kenneth Thorson declined to issue the first of 20 annual jackpot checks until an investigation determines whether the syndicate violated game regulations in its ticket purchases.
"It's just as likely we'll honor the ticket as we won't," Thorson said.
Presenting the ticket was Joseph Franck, a representative of the trustee of the International Lotto Fund in Melbourne, Australia. The fund is a group of 2,500 investors who try to corner numbers games around the world. Also present was Robert Hans Roos, an official of Pacific Financial Resources in Australia, the firm that masterminded the logistics of purchasing millions of tickets.
Reached Wednesday night at a Richmond hotel, Roos at first declined to respond, but later answered the phone in his room. He said he could give no information on the lottery situation.
"I'm sensitive to your anxiety to get information, but I can't make any comment," he said. "We've made a joint statement with Mr. Thorson and I can't say anything further at this time."
Roos drove up to the hotel in a rented red Cadillac Sedan deVille around 7:15 p.m.
A bellman at the hotel just shook his head when told the Australian guests he had watched "running in and out all day" were in town hoping to collect the big Lotto jackpot.
"I don't even want to think about it," he sighed.
The men, accompanied by two Richmond lawyers, privately met with lottery officials for two hours Thursday afternoon and, according to Thorson, amicably agreed to await the outcome of the investigation.
At issue is where payment for the winning ticket was received. Thorson said the ticket could be declared invalid if it was paid for at the corporate headquarters of the Farm Fresh grocery chain rather than at the store in Chesapeake where it was dispensed.
According to Thorson, Franck and Roos were unable to clear up confusion concerning the winning ticket. The men said some of the $2.5 million in tickets they purchased from Farm Fresh were paid for at the chain's corporate headquarters, while others were purchased directly at stores. Thorson said they did not know the exact circumstances concerning purchase of the winning ticket.
Should it be determined that game rules were violated, Thorson said, he would decide whether to refund any money spent by the Australians to purchase invalid tickets. The $27 million would be returned to the pot for a future drawing.
Although the Lottery Board plans a weeklong investigation into the matter, Thorson acknowledged that it may be impossible to determine exactly where payment for the winning ticket was received. He declined to say whether he would honor the ticket should the probe be inconclusive.
The jackpot - the largest ever in Virginia - would be paid in 20 annual installments of little more than $1 million after taxes.
Of the 32 states with lotteries, Virginia is the first to experience an attempt to corner a winning ticket, state officials said.
by CNB