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Last year, an American man discovered on the lottery official website that he had won a $340 million jackpot, but when he tried to claim the prize, he was informed that the website had mistakenly posted non-authentic winning numbers, and therefore, he did not win. Of course, the man did not accept this, so he filed a lawsuit against the lottery company.
Powerball lottery is widely popular in the United States due to its staggering prize amounts. It is sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each bet costs $2, and there is a probability of 1 in 292.2 million to win the jackpot. In November 2022, the highest jackpot in global history reached $2.04 billion. In January of last year, an American man purchased a Powerball ticket and, if lucky, would have won a $340 million jackpot when checking the lottery official website. However, he was later informed that the website mistakenly uploaded non-authentic winning numbers, and as a result, he did not win. Not willing to accept this outcome, he filed a lawsuit against the lottery company seeking to claim the awarded prize. The case is currently under trial with no verdict issued.
The owner of the winning ticket, John Cheeks, resides in Washington. In January of last year, he chose his numbers using family birthdays and lucky digits and purchased a ticket on January 6th. He claimed that he did not watch the live drawing but later checked the Powerball official website, where he found out he had won the $340 million jackpot. He described himself as not being too excited at the time. After telling his friends, he received reminders. He took pictures of all the numbers on the website and the ticket, saved the certificates, and then went to sleep.
Later, when he expected to claim his prize at the OLG office, an employee scanned the ticket, but the system showed he had not won. Some employees even suggested he throw the ticket in the trash, which was suspected to eliminate evidence. The victim did not follow their advice but instead preserved evidence through a lawyer and filed a lawsuit against the Powerball company, the lottery association, and the contractor Taoti.
In court, the project manager from Taoti admitted that the company was conducting website testing and accidentally released test numbers on the Powerball official website around noon on the day of the drawing. However, he emphasized that it did not constitute official drawing results, as it did not go through the formal drawing process, and no prizes would be awarded.
However, the victim's legal representative referenced a similar case where Iowa mistakenly released incorrect Powerball numbers due to human error in November of the previous year. At that time, the lottery association agreed that individuals involved in the disputed numbers could retain prizes ranging from $4 to $200. Therefore, it is argued that Washington's lottery error should be handled similarly so that the victim can receive some or even the full prize. The case awaits a court ruling. |
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Post time 3-3-2024 13:31:02