Deli Owners Try To Steal Million-Dollar Lottery Ticket

Being able to buy a lottery ticket with one's sandwich is a perk of the local delicatessen, but a pair of deli owners in Long Island are in trouble with police after trying to con one of their longtime customers out of a winning ticket worth $1 million.

According to the New York Post, a customer who had purchased a $10 "Unwrap the Cash" lottery ticket from the Peninsula Deli & Grocery found he had won a $1 million jackpot. But when he brought it back to the deli, the deli owner's son told him the ticket was only worth $1,000. The owner's son handed the man $1,000 and took the $1 million ticket for himself.

The rightful winner does not speak English, but he recognized shenanigans when he saw it. He came back the next day to confront the deli owner's son about the ticket, at which point he was offered a slightly larger fraction of the amount he was owed.

"Ok, I will pay you $10,000 as long as you don't involve the police," the deli owner's son allegedly said.

At that point the deli owner got in on the con and attempted to persuade the man that his ticket was only worth $10,000, despite the fact that the winning ticket had a few more zeroes on it.

No longer willing to believe a word either of them said, the lottery winner called the police, who quickly figured out what was going on and arrested both deli owners on charges of second-degree grand larceny. The winner will get his money, and the would-be con men will be arraigned in court today.