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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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The system software has a glitch and this guy thinks he's owed 340 mil?

Good luck.

I'm sure he and his lawyer are just looking for a settlement.......everybody thinks they're owed something......another indication of the overall deterioration of society in general.

1 posted on 02/20/2024 6:08:53 AM PST by V_TWIN
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To: V_TWIN

Was it a Dominion machine?


2 posted on 02/20/2024 6:10:22 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

Stop it or Jim gonna get sued.


3 posted on 02/20/2024 6:11:31 AM PST by Rastus
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To: V_TWIN

The guy is an idiot.


4 posted on 02/20/2024 6:11:33 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: ConservativeMind

Looking for a payout to go away quietly.......and he’ll more than likely get something.


5 posted on 02/20/2024 6:14:36 AM PST by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: ConservativeMind
John Cheeks of Washington D.C.
6 posted on 02/20/2024 6:16:22 AM PST by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: V_TWIN

There was never a win with those numbers.

We can’t sue the weatherman for a wrong forecast, either.


7 posted on 02/20/2024 6:17:17 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: V_TWIN
"“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,”"

This guy owes his friend a very generous cut when he wins the lawsuit, or more likely when they settle with him. Obviously.

8 posted on 02/20/2024 6:21:26 AM PST by OKSooner ("You won't like what comes after America." - Leonard Cohen.)
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To: V_TWIN

In Ohio, every lottery ticket has printer on the back that you agree to comply with the laws and rules of the Ohio Lottery Commission. I’m pretty sure that among these rules are that they are not responsible for publication of wrong numbers. In other words “too bad, so sad.”


9 posted on 02/20/2024 6:26:35 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Democrats' version of MAGA: Making America the Gulag Archipelago. Now with "Formal Deprogramming")
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To: dfwgator

Was it a Dominion machine?

~~~

Post of the day


10 posted on 02/20/2024 6:40:13 AM PST by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: OKSooner

“or more likely when they settle with him”

That’s what he’s looking for.


11 posted on 02/20/2024 6:41:23 AM PST by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: V_TWIN

Seems “test” screens cause many issues.

“Test’ screens showing candidates projected winner well before polls close or much % counted.

Test in this case (and every case of “test” mistakes) should have been all zeros or such.

If someone is dumb enough to make a test screen so specific, and even dumber to (accidentally) run it live as has happened on tv and other places numerous times, then they are responsible for confusion they caused and need to make that right in some way.

not just “Oopsie”, each time they do it.

Because it’s happening more and more frequent: leaks of all sorts of info, by accident, they say.

Sure this guy doesn’t deserve the full amount but the lottery system displayed information as winning numbers, coming from them. Their information mislead him.

He deserves some thing more than “sorry”.

where is their responsibility for mistakes?

The guy wasn’t mistaken, he saw what they put on the screen.


12 posted on 02/20/2024 6:45:14 AM PST by b4me
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To: V_TWIN

He’ll get nothing other than 15 minutes of fame. Mistakes and errors clauses cover this type of issue and never get overturned. Only the official certified results mater in this case.


13 posted on 02/20/2024 6:47:07 AM PST by MTsumi
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To: V_TWIN

Bad legal theory. INstead, he should have claimed that he relied on the inaccurate announcement to buy drinks at the local bar for everyone and now the outfit that posted the wrong number has to reimburse him for the drinks. I think he would have a case for that.


14 posted on 02/20/2024 6:57:47 AM PST by edwinland
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To: V_TWIN

The guy sounds like he’s not counting on receiving the Dung Beetle Party’s African slave reparation millions for all the cotton he didn’t pick centuries ago.


15 posted on 02/20/2024 7:03:26 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (John Oliver is a racist liberal biatch.)
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To: V_TWIN

One time I dreamed that I had won the lottery, but then I woke up and was disappointed. I should sue.

They could buy this guy another lottery ticket and let it go at that. Even that is more than he’s entitled to, but it would be a gesture of goodwill.


16 posted on 02/20/2024 7:05:37 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: V_TWIN

I had a similar thing happen to me in the 80’s. The local paper published the winning Lottery numbers for both the Washington and Oregon Lotteries

As I read the numbers, I realized I had won $3M. The only problem was they posted the Oregon Lotto winning numbers for Washington and vice versa.

I guessed I should have sued the local newspaper...


17 posted on 02/20/2024 7:09:47 AM PST by shotgun
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

One time I dreamed that I had won the lottery...


And one time I dreamed my ship finally came. Then I woke up, look around, I was at the airport.


18 posted on 02/20/2024 7:26:44 AM PST by Deepeasttx ( Sensitivity/diversity training, along with DEI are all un-walled reeducation camps....for now.)
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To: V_TWIN

Wow... so apparently when a bank makes a clerical error which results in a massive amount of $$ being credited to an account by mistake, the person who’s account was filled with $$ that isnt theirs can sue the bank for the full amount if they deny him the agility to remove the $$ or use it?


19 posted on 02/20/2024 7:30:14 AM PST by Bob434
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To: Bob434

“Agility”, yeah I are a good typerer


20 posted on 02/20/2024 7:33:50 AM PST by Bob434
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