Powerball ticket.Photo:Getty Images
Getty Images
A man is suing Powerball organizers for $340 million after they “mistakenly posted” numbers that led him to believe he had won the lottery.
However, when he went to redeem what he thought was his winning ticket, Cheeks claims he was told that it was a “mistake," according to alawsuit filed in Superior Court of Washington, D.C., against multiple entities including Powerball, the Multi-State Lottery Association and Taoti Enterprises — a digital advertising agency that operates the D.C. Lottery website.
“Because the winning numbers on the D.C. Lottery website matched the numbers on the Plaintiff’s Powerball lottery ticket, the Plaintiff is entitled to the entire jackpot that was then available,” Cheeks' lawyers stated in the complaint, per CBS News.
Cheeks is suing for breach of contract, gross negligence and infliction of emotional distress, and is requesting $340 million in compensation plus damages and interest on the winnings, per theTimes.
According to a motion to dismiss the case, Taoti Enterprises said the numbers were “accidentally” posted as part of a quality assurance test, per theTimesandNPR.
“The test numbers were never the actual winning numbers,” the group said, according to court documents, going on to claim that Cheeks was trying to capitalize on “an obvious error.”
The group went on to note that those numbers were posted online “the day before the drawing” and that they did not match the numbers shown during the televised drawing on Jan. 7. Furthermore, they pointed out that there’s a disclaimer on the lottery website that says it is not “the final authority” for drawings.
When reached for comment, Taoti Enterprises said they couldn’t comment due to pending legal matters, but referred PEOPLE to their motion to dismiss. The DC Office of Lottery and Gamingalso declined to comment.
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Last November, lottery officials in Iowa posted the wrong Powerball numbers and later blamed it on “redundant reporting procedures” which failed after the drawing, they saidin a statement.
The “winners” who thought they hit the jackpot on the initial numbers were able to cash in their tickets over a period of nearly seven hours, from about 12:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday, theAssociated Pressreported.
While the jackpot was considerably lower – $4 to $200 – lottery officials told the AP that anybody who cashed in their “winning” ticket during that time would be able to keep the money.
The preliminary hearing for Cheeks' lawsuit is scheduled for Friday.
source: people.com
