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TRENDING Powerball player denied $340 million prize over computer error sues lottery officials
actionnewsjax.com ^ | February 19, 2024 | Debbie Lord, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Posted on 02/20/2024 6:08:53 AM PST by V_TWIN

A man who thought he had won a $340 million jackpot in a Powerball lottery drawing is suing the game’s administrators after they said their website mistakenly showed his numbers as the winning combination. John Cheeks of Washington D.C. purchased a Powerball lottery ticket on Jan. 6, 2023, and checked his numbers two days later, seeing that they matched the posted Powerball numbers.

“I got a little excited, but I didn’t shout, I didn’t scream. I just politely called a friend. I took a picture as he recommended, and that was it. I went to sleep,” Cheeks told NBC Washington.

Cheeks went to the lottery office to redeem his ticket and was told the claim was denied because, according to lottery officials, “Petitioner’s prize claim was denied … because the ticket did not validate as a winner by the OLG’s gaming system as required by OLG regulations.”

According to Cheeks, a lottery claims staffer allegedly told him, “Hey, this ticket is no good. Just throw it in the trash can.”

Cheeks recalled, “I gave him a stern look. I said, ‘In the trash can?’

‘Oh yeah, just throw it away. You’re not going to get paid. There’s a trash can right there.’

He did not throw the ticket away. Instead, he decided to sue Powerball, the Multi-State Lottery Association and game contractor Taoti Enterprises.

In an answer to Cheek’s suit, Taoti project manager Brittany Bailey said that on Jan. 6, 2023, the company was testing a task involving a changing of time zones for the Powerball website, and at 12:09 p.m., the Taoti quality assurance team accidentally posted test Powerball numbers on the game’s live website rather than a development site that is not viewable to the public.

According to Bailey, Cheeks could not have any winning number combination because the test numbers were not the numbers drawn for the Powerball lottery on Jan. 7 since they were incorrectly drawn and posted on Jan. 6.

On Jan. 8, the incorrect lottery numbers were listed next to the actual winning numbers on the DC Lottery website. The Taoti development team took down the incorrect numbers on Jan. 9, Bailey said.


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To: V_TWIN

I’ll never understand why there aren’t payouts limited to ONE million dollars. I don’t play lotteries AND am poor at math...


21 posted on 02/20/2024 7:48:29 AM PST by Does so ( 🇺🇦...Motels for Migrants give legitimate addresses for mail-in ballots.)
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To: V_TWIN

It’s a publishing error - wrong numbers published on a website he looks at doesn’t make those be the numbers that came up in the actual drawing. “Thinking” you won and actually winning are two different things.


22 posted on 02/20/2024 8:38:18 AM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: V_TWIN

I’m pretty sure he won’t get an amount equal to the jackpot, but he’ll probably get a pretty good chunk of change nevertheless.


23 posted on 02/20/2024 9:20:42 AM PST by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: V_TWIN

I think the Powerball people could have to pay something. THEY PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC ON THEIR WEBSITE winning data that was false. Yes, the guy ought not get the grand prize that false, PUBLISHED, data said was his. But I bet he’ll get something, if he has a good lawyer.


24 posted on 02/20/2024 9:36:06 AM PST by Wuli
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