Not a millionaire after all
Alleged winner annoyed by lottery mishap
For three days he was the luckiest man in the world, until he became the ultimate unlucky man through no fault of his own. When John Cheeks compared the numbers on his ticket with the official Powerball lottery website - all six matched. But when he tried to claim his 340 million dollar prize (around 316 million euros), he was told: "None of your numbers are correct!" The lottery company justifies itself with a glitch. Cheeks now wants to dispute the prize in court.
According to the court documents, Cheeks had the Powerball ticket issued on January 6, 2023 with the numbers 7, 15, 23, 32, 50 and additional number 2. He told a local TV station: "The numbers are made up of the birthdays of my family members." When he checked his computer after the draw on January 7 in the evening, his heart almost stopped: He had hit the Powerball jackpot and would have been the first multi-millionaire of the year.
Explained at the counter: "Your ticket is a loser"
The supposed lottery winner took a photo of his computer screen to prove to disbelieving family members that he wasn't joking. On January 10, 2023, he brought his winning ticket to the "Lottery Winning Center" in Washington D.C. The reaction of the employee at the counter, who pulled the ticket through the validation machine, made his friends evaporate: "He said, 'Your ticket is a loser. Throw it in the garbage can!' I replied 'Are you insane? Look at your website' But he wouldn't hear of it."
In this post, you can see the lottery multimillionaire who was prevented from winning:
Wrong numbers were displayed on website
Cheeks deposited his lottery ticket in a safe deposit box and hired lawyer Richard Evans. Upon request, he was informed by lottery company operator Taoti Enterprises that the wrong winning numbers had been displayed on the website - which nobody claims to have noticed for three days. The error is said to have been made by an external advertising agency that manages the DC Lottery website. Evans told Channel4Washington: "The lottery company hasn't even been able to prove to us that the mistake wasn't theirs. And even if it was a mistake, I want the court to decide what my client is entitled to."
In the draw on January 7, 2023, no player had officially matched six numbers. The jackpot actually grew to 756.6 million dollars over the next few weeks before it was won on February 6, 2023.
Interesting fact: A similar website error occurred with the Iowa state lottery in November 2023. There, the incorrect winning numbers remained online overnight for six hours. All players who had their winnings of up to 200 dollars paid out online during this period (for higher amounts, winners must collect their money from the lottery center) were allowed to keep their money.
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