The rightful winner of the lottery ticket has until May 23 to claim their large prize
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NEED TO KNOW
- A store manager is being sued after he allegedly tried to claim the multi-million-dollar winnings from a lottery ticket that was left behind by a customer
- Circle K has filed the lawsuit against company employee Robert Gawlitza
- The rightful winner of the lottery ticket has until May 23 to claim their large prize
A store manager is being sued by his company after he allegedly tried to claim the multi-million-dollar winnings from a lottery ticket that was left behind by a customer.
In a lawsuit filed by Circle K, the company accused employee Robert Gawlitza of trying to cash in the $12.8 million winning lottery ticket that a customer left behind at the store on Nov. 24, after he realized the ticket hit the jackpot, AZ Family reported.
According to the complaint obtained by the outlet, the customer bought multiple tickets for "The Pick” lottery game, in which players must match six numbers on their tickets to the six numbers called. Gawlitza printed $85 worth of tickets, but the customer only paid for $60 worth, leaving $25 in tickets on the counter, AZ Family reported.
The remaining tickets were left unattended in the store until the next morning, and the winning numbers were later called to be 3, 13, 14, 15, 19 and 26, resulting in a $12.8 million cash prize, per the New York Post.
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After realizing one of the tickets had hit the jackpot, Gawlitza clocked out of work that same day and purchased the abandoned tickets from an employee, the lawsuit alleges, per AZ Family.
Circle K management was alerted to the winning ticket shortly afterwards, and the company requested that it be kept in its head office until the rightful winner of the jackpot was decided by a judge, the Post reported.
The Arizona Lottery is named alongside Gawlitza in the lawsuit, per AZ Family.
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“This is a unique situation, and we are not aware of any prior litigation of this sort involving the Arizona Lottery,” a lottery spokesperson told the outlet.
State Rep. Jeff Weninger told AZ Family, “It is in the administrative rules that basically says if they overprint that the retailer owns the tickets.”
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The rightful winner of the lottery ticket now has until May 23 to claim their $12.8 million prize, according to the Post.
The winning amount is the fourth-largest lottery prize since 2019, the outlet reported.
PEOPLE contacted the Arizona Lottery and the Maricopa County Superior Court for comment on Sunday, Feb. 22, but did not receive an immediate response.
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