Trio accused of €32.5m Euro Millions scam

Police in France are holding two shopkeepers and another person accused of a €32.5m Euro Millions lottery scam.

Police believe the shopkeepers, who own a tobacco shop in Paris, realised they had sold the winning Euro Millions ticket on May 11 when a man came in to check whether he had won.

The shopkeepers allegedly lied and told him he had not – and kept the ticket themselves, said judicial officials.

Investigators believe the couple passed the numbers to a third party – someone who would be less suspicious to authorities – who claimed to be the winner.

Three days after receiving the prize, the accomplice deposited €30m into the shopkeepers’ account, the officials said.

People in Britain and eight other countries – France; Spain; Austria; Belgium; Ireland; Luxembourg; Portugal; and Switzerland – play the Euro Millions lottery.

Thierry Herzog, lawyer for La Francaise des Jeux, the French lottery authority, said the game operator had two priorities: “Finding the real winner and exposing the people who carried out this scam.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office opened a judicial inquiry on June 19 following a complaint by La Francaise de Jeux.

Investigators tracked down the true winner and Herzog said everything would be done to ensure he took home the winnings.