The lottery company was sued by a Washington, D.C man for $340 million after the man claimed he was denied prize money despite having the winning numbers that were displayed on the website.
John Cheeks claimed that he purchased a lottery ticket on the 6th of January, 2023, and chose his numbers based on his family members’ birthdays.
He mentioned that he missed watching the live draw the following day but later found out that his numbers were the same as what he saw on the D.C lottery website which means he had won the money prize of $320 million.
He said:
‘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,’
The story got interesting when he explained that he woke some days later and found out that his number did not match with what the TV was showing as the draw anymore, whereas, his numbers were displayed for three days.
According to the case report filed, the lottery contractor, Taoti Enterprises, made a ‘mistake’ and posted the wrong winning numbers on the website.
Cheeks’ lawsuit has requested that Powerball pay him the winnings from the ticket he thought he held, plus an additional $72,000 per day of interest payments ‘due for failure to pay.’
The amount equals roughly $340 million.
According to the legal documents, Cheeks discovered his fortune was threatened after he went to a licensed lottery retailer, and his prize was denied.
He then moved on to the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming prize center, where he received another denial and a request from a claimed officer.
Cheeks said the officer told him that his ticket was invalid and that he should ‘just throw it in the trash can.’
Cheeks said he didn’t move quickly to claim his prize due to lack of time as he was busy with his job.
He explained that he is working on creating a home trust bank that would provide individuals with loans who don’t qualify for traditional mortgages.
He said:
‘The crisis of the homeownership situation here in the District, Virginia and Maryland. Tent cities over at the State Department. Tent cities at Union Station.’
After being told by the officer to trash his ticket, he said:
‘And I gave him a stern look. I said, “In the trash can?”‘ He then recalled the officer confirmed that he should throw the ticket away and said: ‘You’re not gonna get paid.’
Against the officer’s orders, Cheeks kept the ticket and stored it in a safe deposit box before he reached out to a lawyer for help.
‘They have said that one of their contractors made a mistake. I haven’t seen the evidence to support that yet,’ Cheek’s lawyer, Richard Evans, told News4.
‘Even if a mistake was made, the question becomes: “What do you do about that?”‘ he said, before adding a similar case occurred in Iowa, and that the contractor paid the winnings out to the plaintiff.
