News writer
Something wasn't adding up at the BP station, and it wasn't just gas prices. Nearly $9,000 in lottery losses left managers scratching their heads, and it took a closer look at surveillance footage to uncover how one employee turned the Wisconsin Lottery terminal into her personal slot machine.
Lottery shortages at the gas station
In August 2024, a BP gas station reported having a shortage of around $9,000 for the month, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators determined that 26-year-old Hope Johnson was working on the days that the lottery shortages occurred.
Authorities determined Johnson also started working alone, and the high-dollar shortages happened on days when she was working alone between August 21 and August 26, 2024.
Loss prevention reviewed the store's surveillance footage and saw Johnson standing at the Wisconsin Lottery terminal while printing several Fast Play tickets. She then checked the tickets for winners but did not pay for any of them.
Authorities said Johnson would then scan the tickets at the store, and any of the winning tickets she would take to the Express Mart across the street. It was determined she printed off a total of 881 tickets, adding up to $8,810. The total amount of winnings she claimed was $2,840.
The store manager finds discrepancies
The lottery shortages were eventually found by the store manager, who happened to be doing the lottery reconciliation for August 25, when she noticed around $900 worth of pay slips were missing.
Officials said that when a customer redeems a winning lottery ticket, a pay slip is generated by the lottery terminal. That pay slip is then attached to the winning ticket and is used to confirm their payouts.
In September 2024, authorities got in contact with Johnson and advised her of her next steps. They referred several criminal charges to the Clark County District Attorney's Office. She was eventually charged with six different counts relating to the incident, including altering or forging lottery tickets.
Plea deal accepted
On Monday, July 7, 2025, authorities announced that Johnson entered a plea deal. She pleaded guilty to one charge of altering or forging a lottery ticket. Johnson was then sentenced to 10 days in jail and two years of probation. If she happens to violate the terms of her probation, then she will have to serve 80 more days in jail.
After accepting the plea deal, the other five charges she faced were dismissed, but the judge did consider them during her sentencing.
New millionaire in Wisconsin
While Johnson was trying to cheat her way to a big lottery win, another person in Wisconsin was buying Powerball tickets legitimately and winning $2 million.
For the Saturday, July 5, 2025, Powerball drawing, one lucky ticket purchased at Festival Foods, located at W3195 Van Roy Rd. in Appleton, matched all five of the winning white ball numbers to win the $2 million prize. The winning white ball numbers for that drawing were 1, 28, 34, 50, and 58, and the Powerball number was 8.
The winning ticket included the Power Play feature, which turned their $1 million prize into a $2 million prize because of the 2X multiplier.
Enjoy playing the Wisconsin Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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