The multiple VAT lottery winner whose “incredible luck” raised suspicions that it was being rigged, has been submitting bin bags full of receipts and using the winnings to help fund humanitarian missions.

John Sammut, 70, told the Times of Malta the lottery was a source of funding for the Mission Fund, a Catholic organisation that supports Maltese missionaries and educational and health facilities overseas.

Mr Sammut said the mission had some 200 members, many of whom sent in receipts regularly. He also submitted his own and asked the public to contribute.

He explained how it was chance that his ID card number came to appear regularly on the list of winners. “It all started about four years ago. The mission had long been participating in this lottery but was never winning a cent,” he said.

It was only when he went to deliver a few bin bags full of receipts for the draw that he started a chat with a VAT lottery department employee, who pointed out that the receipts had to have a valid ID card number on them to be considered eligible for participation.

“We used to just write ‘Mission Fund’ on the receipts. From then on I started putting my ID number on every single receipt we gave in, and that’s why it keeps popping up,” he said.

On Tuesday, this newspaper reported how an unknown person had won twice in the same draw for two consecutive months amid suspicions that the lottery was being manipulated.

The mystery punter’s ID card number had come up twice in this month’s list of lottery winners, with a €1,269 win being added to the initial €627 win. Facebook users greeted news of the punter’s stroke of good luck with more than a hint of scepticism, prompting the Department of Information – which first posted the results on Facebook – to write that it had “taken note of your concerns, and passed them on to the relevant authority”.

The winner under scrutiny was Mr Sammut. Just last month, he managed to take home a whopping €6,703, thanks to two separate VAT lottery wins.

And if that wasn’t enough, he also won sums back in April 2015 and in April and November 2014. The wins in those years varied from €233 to €900, taking his total earnings between 2014 and last month up to €10,535.

If the punter submitted 1,000 VAT receipts that month, the odds of him winning twice were 0.000006 per cent

In 2013, this newspaper investigated a case where a punter won €23,000 after scooping up two VAT lottery wins of €11,000 in the same month.

Statistician Silvan Zammit calculated that  if the punter had submitted 1,000 VAT receipts that month, the odds of him winning twice were 0.000006 per cent.

It now transpires that the multiple winner in those draws had also been Mr Sammut.

“We use the money to finance the building of educational and health projects – schools and extensions to clinics in developing countries. We also help Maltese missionaries all over the world,” he said, chuckling at the thought of rigging the lottery.

He was quick to add that the Mission Fund submits annual audited accounts, which are available on its website.

The idea of manipulating the draw, however, is not that far fetched.

Back in 2003, 11 officials at the Public Lotto Department were charged with tampering with the lottery, after police caught wind of a scheme which involved clipping receipts to the inside hinge of the lotto urn.

The VAT lottery happens every month, with officials drawing winners by randomly plucking fiscal receipts submitted by the public.

The next draw is due to take place on November 15 at 8.15am. The public can attend the draw, which will take place at the Public Lotto Stores in Wied il-Kbir, Qormi.

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