Italian authorities have exposed a fraudulent scheme involving Gratta e Vinci scratchcards, a widely popular lottery game, resulting in the seizure of over €25 million ($27.98 million) from five former employees of a gaming concessionaire. This investigation, carried out by the Guardia di Finanza, took place this week.
Though the gaming company itself has not faced any accusations, prosecutors claim these five individuals misused their privileged access to the system to identify winning tickets ahead of time, bypassing the randomness that the game is meant to represent.
According to La Stampa, the accused allegedly pinpointed four winning scratchcards prior to their public release. Two of these cards were reportedly worth €7 million each, and the other two were valued at €5 million each. They reportedly accessed the gaming company’s servers with confidential credentials, allowing them to inspect or alter data to identify winning tickets before they were sold.
The scheme seemingly involved a network where these predetermined tickets were purchased by friends and family members from various retail outlets across Italy. This tactic aimed to mask the fraudulent origin of the tickets, making them harder to trace.
In response to the fraud, the Guardia di Finanza stated that the asset seizures were necessary to protect public finances and recover assets tied to the alleged damages caused by the scheme. The confiscated assets include 25 properties, numerous vehicles, and various financial holdings associated with the suspects.
Italy's regulatory landscape concerning gaming has been tumultuous this year. In June, the trade body EGP-FIPE alerted the Senate that the gambling sector is caught in a "regulatory deadlock," which could lead to an expansion of unregulated gambling activities. They expressed that the current lack of a cohesive reform framework has left the sector “frozen,” hindering effective network planning and weakening measures designed to address problem gambling.
A court will soon decide whether to uphold, modify, or lift the asset seizures, intending to secure potential restitution for the financial damage linked to the Italian Revenue Agency while criminal and accounting investigations are ongoing. The five former employees facing investigation are charged with multiple offenses related to the fraud, as authorities work to uphold the integrity of Italy’s lottery and gaming industries.
