How two losing scratch cards and some sticky tape led to a €10M court trial

Winning the jackpot is every scratch card player’s dream, however one man from Italy got sick of waiting and tried to speed up the process with some sticky tape and a lot of nerve. So how did a homemade attempt to forge a €10 million payout land a player in a Rome courtroom and not in early retirement?

The €10 million walk-in

A 50-year-old man from the province of Cosenza walked into the Italian National Lottery prize office in Rome and handed over an Il Miliardario Maxi card (“The Maxi Billionaire” card), requesting his payout for a life-changing €10,000,540.

Staff realised something was wrong almost immediately, as running straight across the middle of the ticket was a clean horizontal tear, mended together with a thin strip of clear adhesive tape.

The “Frankenstein” ticket

Pressing the two halves closely together and the card told a very interesting story. The winning numbers 56 and 19 matched the player’s numbers, the Maxi Bonus showed a 20, and a x5 multiplier appeared to deliver the huge sum being claimed.

However, official electronic checks quickly exposed the truth. Investigators discovered the ticket had been hand-stitched together from two completely different non-winning cards, and to make matters worse, Italian media Il Fatto Quotidiano, (who had dubbed it a “Frankenstein” card), also noted that the exact payout amount claimed did not even exist in the game’s official prize structure. Il Miliardario Maxi costs €20 and has a top prize of €5 million, with a second prize of €2 million

Facing the music in Rome

Staff seized the ticket on the spot, launching a lengthy investigation that eventually sent the case to a Rome tribunal. Now facing attempted fraud charges, the defendant is presumed innocent until the court delivers its verdict.

He may not have won the cash prize, but he definitely wins the prize for effort, creativity and nerve.