A man who won $340 million in the lottery was unable to collect the money due to a terrible mistake. What happened
Entrepreneur John Cheeks from Washington, DC, bought a Powerball lottery ticket back in early January, using the birthdates of his family members to select the numbers. He missed the live drawing, but the next day he logged on to the website and was overjoyed to win $340 million (over 13.1 billion hryvnias). However, it's not that simple.
The entrepreneur told the local NBC4 TV company that he took a picture of the website where his numbers were displayed for three days. However, when he went to redeem his ticket at a licensed vendor two days later, he discovered that the numbers on the website - the ones on his ticket - did not match those drawn during the Powerball live broadcast. So Chicks, who had been imagining himself a multimillionaire for two days, was left without money.
According to the man, he then went to the District of Columbia Lottery and Gaming Authority to check whether he was eligible for the prize. He was flatly denied.
"One of the claim agents told me that my ticket was worthless and I should just throw it in the trash," Chicks told reporters.
However, the American decided not to give up. He kept his ticket in a safe deposit box and contacted a lawyer. Now, the man is in litigation with the lottery, demanding compensation in the amount of the Powerball jackpot plus the interest he could have earned on it in a day.
John Cheeks thought he won $340 million, but there was a mistake
Source: Screenshot
His lawyer, Richard Evans, said that representatives of the advertising agency that manages the lottery website, Taoti Enterprises, admitted that they made a mistake and posted the wrong numbers.
"Even if the mistake was made, John Cheeks deserves some kind of solution and the jackpot payment. After all, he was convinced for several days that he won a nine-figure sum... It's not just about the numbers on the website, it's about the reliability of institutions that promise life-changing opportunities while making huge profits," the lawyer commented.
Due to a mistake, a man cannot receive his winnings
Source: Screenshot
According to court documents, Powerball and lottery contractor Taoti Enterprises claim the mix-up was due to a technical error. A Taoti employee said that on January 6 - the day Chicks bought the ticket - the quality assurance team was conducting testing on the website.
On that day, a set of test Powerball numbers that matched Mr. Chicks' numbers were published on the website "by accident." Those numbers remained online for three days, until January 9.
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