Re: Man sues after $340M Powerball prize denied due to DC Lottery Linux website mistake

[No reparations for you!]

On 14 Mar 2022, Rudy Canoza <notg...@gmail.com> posted some
news:8WOXJ.60244$dln7...@fx03.iad:

> Some stupid black Linux operator high on drugs screwed up AGAIN!
> Probably worked for Kamala Harris.

Winning number displayed on DC Lottery website was not the number from
Powerball drawing

A Washington, D.C., man is suing Powerball and the D.C. Lottery for
refusing to pay a $340 million prize last year after, the lawsuit claims,
his numbers came up on the D.C. Lottery’s website.

John Cheeks bought a Powerball ticket on Jan. 6, 2023, using a personal
number combination of family birthdates and other things.

“I’m not a regular, except for when the jackpot goes up,” he said.

Cheeks did not see the Jan. 7 drawing, but he pulled the website up on his
laptop on Jan. 8 and saw his numbers.

“I got a little excited, but I didn’t shout, I didn’t scream,” Cheeks
said. “I just politely called a friend. I took a picture as he
recommended, and that was it. I went to sleep.”

But the numbers posted on the D.C. Lottery website were not the same as
those pulled in that Powerball drawing on Jan. 7.

His lawsuit claims his numbers remained on the D.C. Lottery website for
three days and the size of the Powerball prize at that time was $340
million.

Cheeks attributes his somewhat low-key response to seeing his numbers on
the website to being deeply immersed in his work at the time. He’s trying
to create a home trust bank that would make loans to people who don’t
qualify for traditional mortgages.

“The crisis of the homeownership situation here in the District, Virginia
and Maryland,” he said. “Tent cities over at the State Department. Tent
cities at Union Station.”

“I know it’s unheard of and I’ve been criticized for saying that, but the
F word, for ‘foreclosure,’ would not stand on our contracts with people,”
he explained.

In his lawsuit, Cheeks says when he tried to redeem the ticket at a
licensed retailer, the prize was denied. At the D.C. Office of Lottery and
Gaming prize center, Cheeks says he got another denial. He says he also
got a request from a claims staffer.

“’Hey, this ticket is no good. Just throw it in the trash can,’” Cheeks
said. “And I gave him a stern look. I said, ‘In the trash can?’ ‘Oh yeah,
just throw it away. You’re not gonna get paid. There’s a trash can right
there.’”

Cheeks says he put the ticket in a safe deposit box, instead, and
contacted a lawyer.

The lawsuit filed by attorney Richard Evans claims Cheeks was eventually
told that a lottery contractor, D.C.-based Taoti Enterprises, accidentally
posted the wrong numbers — that it was a “mistake.”

“They have said that one of their contractors made a mistake,” Evans said.
“I haven’t seen the evidence to support that yet.”

“Even if a mistake was made, the question becomes: What do you do about
that?” he said. “There is a precedent for this, a similar case that
happened in Iowa, where a mistake was admitted to by a contractor and they
paid the winnings out.”

News4 contacted, by email Powerball, the Multi-State Lottery Association,
Taoti Enterprises and various D.C. government entities named in the
lawsuit along with their attorneys of record. They said their policy is
not to comment on ongoing lawsuits.

News4 followed up the email to the attorney for Taoti Enterprises with a
phone call and was told a response would be coming.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-sues-after-340m-powerball-
prize-denied-due-to-dc-lottery-website-mistake/3545547/