Former store manager Robert Gawlitza clocked out and paid ten dollars for the winning ticket after a customer left it behind due to a lack of money. Circle K filed suit claiming state lottery rules make the abandoned ticket company property because it was never validly sold to a customer. A third potential claimant, the original customer identified as Kim, has further complicated the case regarding whether the ticket was truly abandoned. The court has extended the standard 180-day deadline while Judge Joseph Kreamer focuses solely on establishing legal ownership.
Key points
The Arizona Lottery is currently holding the jackpot funds while the ownership lawsuit pl…: The Arizona Lottery is currently holding the jackpot funds while the ownership lawsuit plays out in court.
The standard 180-day claim deadline has been extended to allow time for the legal dispute…: The standard 180-day claim deadline has been extended to allow time for the legal dispute to resolve.
Competing claims now involve the retail corporation, the former store manager, and the or…: Competing claims now involve the retail corporation, the former store manager, and the original customer who lacked funds.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
A customer walked into a convenience store in Arizona to buy lottery tickets, ran short of cash and left some of them behind. By the next morning, one of those unpaid tickets had become a multimillion-dollar mystery. A store manager who discovered that it matched all six winning numbers decided to buy it himself after clocking out, removing his uniform and paying $10. The ticket was worth nearly $12.8 million. But instead of collecting a fortune, the employee found himself in a legal battle with his former employer, Circle K, over who actually owned the winning slip. Now, nearly a year after the drawing, a judge has allowed the dispute to move forward, according to a report by NBC Palm Springs, although the question of who gets the money remains unanswered.
The case centres on Robert Gawlitza, a former manager at a Circle K convenience store near 56th Street and Bell Road in Scottsdale, Arizona. The winning ticket belonged to The Pick, an Arizona Lottery game in which players must match six numbers drawn to win the jackpot.
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