The Lottery Gangster

An unremarkable middle-aged man who can be found all over the country in droves. His first purchase was a brand new Volvo. Almost immediately he bought another car, but a higher rank. It even had a telephone installed, which for 1975, and even more so for Rajcio, seemed like heavenly entertainment.

At the Turku Hotel, he was rumoured to leave two thousand marks in tips and stay for three months in the Presidential Suite. In the bars he was always buying drinks and liquor for the workers. But the man worked at the post office, which surprised the public.

An unexpected confession

In 1976, an inspection came to the post office of the main character. The auditor started to check the papers and missed some important copies. The man offered to drive to his home, as he said the papers were there. The ride in the brand new Volvo was sweet until our hero stopped the car in a country road.

He went to the boot and pulled out two objects that startled the auditor. The man had a brandy in one hand and a pistol in the other. He sat down next to the auditor and said that there were minor irregularities in the papers. He then told him that the biggest crook in the history of the country was sitting in front of him. The man forced the auditor to drive and started drinking alcohol himself.

Carnage

They went to the bank. The man planned to withdraw the money and leave for Tahiti, but the alcohol made itself felt. The main character’s mind was blurred, the auditor was able to pull him down and drew his gun. But he couldn’t stop the Finn – he slipped out of the auditor’s clutches, ran to his car and fled in an unknown direction.

Growing thirsty

The Volvo was found not far from the man’s home, but he was not in the car. He had managed to get away. Not to Tahiti, but to Sweden, our protagonist was lost for a while. Nevertheless, the man’s conscience began to bother him. He decided to return to his native country and told his tangled story.

Every day he bought lottery tickets for the proceeds of the post office. He even hired bank employees to fill out the tickets. It came to 160,000 a week, but the winnings were enormous. It was then that the man realised that he could not stop – his thirst for money had caught up with him.

The trial

The investigators looked into a very interesting case. In the process it became clear that the worker had invested his own money. After winning 3 million marks, the man spent just over 5 million, making a huge loss. During the investigation the main character confessed that he planned to return the money spent and win back with each new draw.

The court decided to punish the thief by sentencing him to 6.5 years in prison. In addition, he owed the state about two million euros.

Is it possible now?

The rules of the lottery have changed. The number of winning combinations is now noticeably lower and the chances of winning the lottery are much lower. In addition the rules for taking bets have also changed – now you can’t buy a large amount of tickets anonymously.

Lottery organisers say that any large bid is reported to the companies’ head office. In Finland, the law has set a limit of 2,000 euros to buy tickets. If a player wants to spend more on tickets, or has won more than this amount, he must identify himself and undergo all kinds of checks.