Iraqi citizen wins $6.4m Oregon Lottery jackpot via online ticket reseller

The Oregon Lottery has handed out a $6.4m jackpot to an Iraqi citizen who bought the ticket from an online reseller in Israel.

On Wednesday, Oregon Lottery officials confirmed that an Iraqi citizen had presented himself at their offices holding a Megabucks ticket worth $6.4m. The man had purchased the ticket online from Thelotter.com, an Israel-based site that resells tickets from lotteries scattered around the globe.

Oregon Lottery spokesman Chuck Bauman said a Thelotter.com representative had purchased the ticket in August from Binky’s, a deli in Bend, Oregon. The Israeli site charges its customers a premium for lottery tickets – a 300% markup in the Oregon case – from countries such as Brazil, South Africa and the Ukraine.

Lottery officials said there was nothing in their rules or federal laws that prohibited third-parties reselling tickets in this manner, although one can imagine a serious hissy fit from online gambling foe Sheldon Adelson if the Iraqi jackpot winner had been from neighboring Iran.