A Washington DC man, who believed he had won a $340 million jackpot, has filed a lawsuit against Powerball and the DC Lottery after they claimed that they published his numbers by mistake.
Powerball Ticket of Washington DC Man Is No Good
John Cheeks told BBC that he felt "numb" when he first saw Powerball's winning numbers matched his ticket in January 2023. However, the Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG) rejected his claim when he submitted his ticket.
"One of the claims agents told me my ticket was no good, just to throw it in the trash can," Cheeks told BBC.
Cheeks kept the ticket, and he went to search for a lawyer. He then sued the lottery for damages, in the amount of the Powerball jackpot, plus the interest he would have earned on it daily, totaling $340 million.
Technical Error on Powerball and Lottery Contractor
Powerball and its lottery contractor, Taoti Enterprises of Washington, DC, asserted in court filings that a technical error caused the misunderstanding.
A Taoti employee testified in court that a quality assurance team was running tests on the website on January 6, 2023, the same day Cheeks purchased the Powerball ticket.
Court records show that on that particular day, a set of test Powerball numbers, which happened to match Cheeks' numbers, was "accidentally" placed on the website.
For three days, those numbers were up online. Yet, a Taoti employee said the numbers shown online did not match with the drawn ones at the last lottery draw. Cheeks is suing on eight separate counts, which include negligence, breach of contract, emotional distress infliction, and fraud.
Cheeks' attorney, Richard Evans, argued that his client should get the "entire jackpot" as his numbers were among the winning ones. Otherwise, Evans said Cheeks is qualified to receive compensation for the lottery's gross negligence in publishing incorrect lottery numbers.
"This is not merely about numbers on a website; it's about the reliability of institutions that promise life-changing opportunities, while heavily profiting in the process," Evans told the BBC.
The next hearing is scheduled for February 23, and Cheeks told the outlet that he plans to open a home trust bank, which is meant to assist aspiring homeowners, if he wins.
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