Summary: A Los Angeles County man is suing the California lottery, saying they destroyed his $63 million ticket.
Another day, another weird lottery story. (Check out yesterday’s tale of a lottery-fix scheme in the Midwest.)
This week, a Los Angeles county man filed a lawsuit against the California Lottery, claiming they destroyed his winning ticket, The Los Angeles Times reports.
In court papers filed Wednesday, Brandy Milliner claimed he had submitted the winning SuperLotto Plus ticket to officials, and he received a congratulatory letter saying he would be paid at a later date. But the lottery changed their mind. They said his ticket was “too damaged” and refused to pay.
On Thursday, Lottery officials declared the $63 million jackpot winner to be a no-show after they went on a public campaign to find the winner by 5 p.m. The money will go into California’s education fund.
Lottery spokesperson Russ Lopez told KCRA News that the lottery waits for winners to come to them, not the other way around. He also said that it is common for false claims to emerge, and the organization must do its due diligence.
While lottery officials say no winner came forward, a winning ticket was sold on August 8 in Chatsworth, California. In his lawsuit, Milliner is asking a judge to name him the winner.
Milliner says that the Lottery officials have not returned his ticket, despite his demands. He insists that they destroyed it.
Lopez says he thinks the lawsuit’s last minute timing is “suspicious” but that doesn’t mean Milliner isn’t telling the truth either. He added that it is standard for the lotto to send congratulatory letters to all claimants, even if they weren’t actually winners.
Lopez said that wins are only official once a thorough investigation is conducted that proves the claim is legitimate. The investigations are performed by a team of former law enforcement and security officials.
Source: The Los Angeles Times