( o _ 0 ) Should Robber Be Allowed To Keep Lottery Money? Your thoughts?

Question

By MARK PRATT, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 28, 6:49 PM ET



BOSTON - The winner of a $1 million lottery scratch ticket may not be so lucky after all: He's a convicted bank robber who isn't supposed to gamble. Timothy Elliott faces a Dec. 7 court hearing over whether he violated his probation when he bought the $10 ticket for the $800 Million Spectacular game at a supermarket in Hyannis.

Elliott was placed on five years' probation after pleading guilty in October 2006 to unarmed robbery for a January 2006 heist at a bank on Cape Cod. Under terms of his probation, he "may not gamble, purchase lottery tickets or visit an establishment where gaming is conducted, including restaurants where Keno may be played."

Elliott, 55, has collected the first of 20 annual $50,000 checks from the Massachusetts lottery commission. A picture of Elliott, holding his first check, was posted on the lottery's Web site Monday, though it was removed by Wednesday.

Answer 1

NO- it was part of his probation, he was not supposed to buy lottery tickets

Answer 2

NO...I should get half! Elliott is not that smart. To avoid all the confusion of collecting the money he should have used a family member or somebody he could trust to cash the ticket and get him the money. Of course he would pay that person some money each time he got his check but that is the way i would roll.

Anybody who says Elliott doesn't deserve that money needs a better answer than just that he has been convicted and can't do this or that. What about the government controlling the lottery? If you can spend your $$$ for tickets and not be checked beforehand then how can they say you are not a winner when you win? The government should write a law stating there needs to be a computer check before somebody buys a lottery ticket as they do with everything else. By the way that last line was sarcastic!

Answer 3

I'm not familiar with Massachusetts law. But if the terms of his probation state that he isn't permitted to gamble then he certainly did violate those terms. That being said, I don't think it's unfair that he be made to face some sort of consequence (depending upon the consequence). However, I don't see how anything could possibly be accomplished by denying him the winnings. In my opinion, people in this country are too focused on punishment and concerned far too little with trying to prevent recidivism. Let's face it- Poverty is one of the primary reasons for recidivism. We could sit on here all day and debate the rights and wrongs of any particular criminal activity. But isn't it much more productive to make every effort to prevent it? I think so. I say give him the money. If he's allowed to collect his winnings, I'd be willing to bet that doing so would reduce the possibility of him committing another robbery a great deal more than any punishment imposed on him by our judicial system.

By the way, I'm not opposed to deducting the cost of his housing and care if he receives a sentence which includes incarceration. But I think it would be absurd to charge him for the housing and care of the other inmates. To do so would be to hold him accountable for what other people do, which is both ridiculous and unjust.

Regarding what someone else said about paying back what he stole from the bank- I venture to say that the terms of his probation probably already included making restitution.

Answer 4

He was sentenced to 5 years probation. What happens to him if (as has already happened) he violates the terms of probation. I'm assuming he will have to serve a prison term. If this is the case then the whole cost of such should be deducted from his winnings. Make him pay for his sentence, calculate the cost of running the prison he is to be sent to. Divide this by the number of prisoners and take that out of his winnings. If he has any left then he can keep it when he gets out.

Answer 5

He bought the ticket legally and there is NO legal reason he should not get the money. If they take it away he should sue the poop out of them. Nowhere on the ticket or in the lottery rules does it state you can't win if you are on parole or a felon. By default he MUST get the money.

But he violated his parole and should go to jail for it. At least he will still be a millionaire when he gets out.

Answer 6

No. His probation clearly stated he wasn't suppose to gamble or buy lottery tickets. He knew he was violating his probation and he got caught so he should get punished. What's next...he'll violate his probation by committing a crime and then they won't throw him in jail?

Answer 7

The money is rightly his and he should have it. He could be made to repay what he had stolen, though. Or, he could be made to establish some sort of fund for a worthy cause (which must be handled professisonally and honestly).

We are too legalistic when it comes to others and so lax when it is our business. Where's the forgiveness? We keep playing God!

Answer 8

ABSOLUTELY NOT. He should not be allowed to keep it when there are people out there who are law abiding citizens and who play Lotto respectfully and who could honestly use the money and who would put the money towards something good and honest. Not this clown!

Answer 9

Nope, I think he should be put in jail for violating his probation. What kind of idiot is this guy? Why didn't he have someone from his family turn it in?

Answer 10

Legally, no. He did violate the conditions of his probation...but as a human being I see no problem with this - he played, he played honestly, no crime was committed. If he must give back his winnings then so be it, but I would really hate to see him go back to jail because of this.