Posted on 02/19/2024 1:49:37 PM PST by nickcarraway
A Washington DC man who thought he won a jackpot worth $340m (£270m) has sued Powerball and the DC Lottery, who claim they published his numbers by mistake.
John Cheeks said he felt "numb" when he first saw Powerball's winning numbers matched his ticket in January 2023.
But when Mr Cheeks presented his ticket to the Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG), his claim was denied.
"One of the claims agents told me my ticket was no good, just to throw it in the trash can," he told the BBC.
Instead, Mr Cheeks held on to that ticket and found a lawyer.
He is now suing the lottery for damages, in the amount of the Powerball jackpot, plus the interest he would have earned on it per day - totalling $340m.
'Accidental error'
According to court documents, Powerball and a lottery contractor, the DC-based Taoti Enterprises, claim the confusion arose from a technical error.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
They’re not going to give him the full $340 million and I think the guy suing even expects that. Powerball will quietly settle with him for a good $2-$3 million, because they can’t risk the bad publicity.
But they were posted on the site for 3 full days! How can we be confident that they are even playing by their own rules if they’re not held accountable?
Imagine if Donald Trump were running the lottery and that happened? You bet your a$$ they would make him pay.
Deny jackpot winners their millions.
I remember years ago when that happened at least once.
Some poor schmo put the cash into one of those casino-front sidewalk slot machines and it went off, telling him he won something like three million dollars. The casino then told him it was a mistake and the slot machine wasn't programmed properly.
If I remember correctly some local court backed the casino.
The Powerball drawing is televised so there is public evidence of what the correct numbers were.
He’ll get paid something one way or another... and he knew it from the get go.....
If Judge Engeron was hearing the case, he’d make Cheeks pay $340 million plus damages for “besmirching the good name of the Lottery.”
A DC jury will rule in his favor.The appeals courts probably won’t.
Was it a Dominion machine?
First scan your tickets on your app or at the store. Document everything you can.
And the winner was Tronold Drump ... and he wants the check made out to “The corrupt state of New York”.
> I can only speak for my local lottery and they aren’t televised anymore because they don’t draw balls anymore. It’s all computer generated now.
that does not seem trustworthy...
Why is that? I assume there are rules that only those numbers chosen through whatever the official procedure is are the official numbers. Also no negligence claim because no damages: If he wasn’t the bona fide winner, he isn’t damaged by not paying. I play and I certainly feel for the guy, but if the lottery’s story as presented in the article is factually true, he shouldn’t get a dime
Except the numbers in question were never drawn, just posted in error. Would a newspaper that published an incorrect set of numbers be liable?
He might have a case if he had actual damages such as seeing he won, he bought everyone at the bar a round or paid everyone’s bar tab.
Thinking he won and then finding out he did not is not really actionable.
I had a $2.00 scratch off that I presented to a clerk at Valero. She said not a winner and tried to throw it away, so I ask for my ticket back. I had no proof but went to another place and they said it was already won. She had to have claimed it for herself. Glad it was only $2.00. Hope she got caught, too.
The whole lottery thing is a high tech scam. They know all the numbers played and then they do the drawing. Miraculously, numbers drawn don’t match for weeks at a time, but when they do, it is always of a single winner. Never 150 or 500, but always a single winner.
They do.
“It’s all computer generated now”
Lottery Number Generator
https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/games/lottery-number-generator.php
Powerball still does live drawings with foam balls (rather than ping pong balls).
Powerball does.
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