IANAL, but if the ticket had been stolen from her, she would have a legitimate claim even if she hadn’t registered or signed the ticket. William Poundstone, honorary Doper and author of Biggest Secrets, details a similar situation in which a man had a $10,000 ticket stolen from him in a bar in San Pedro, CA. When the thief tried to cash it, lottery authorities asked him where he’d bought it. The thief couldn’t answer properly (all tickets can be matched with their point of sale, which was Poundstone’s point in telling the story), and police returned the ticket to the original purchaser.
I have a strong suspicion that, in this case though, the police’s answer is going to be “tough noogies.”
Well… if she can show a history of playing those numbers, buying tickets at that location AND the police report showing when and where she lost the ticket was made before the lottery made the info public, then I’d have to say she lost the ticket.
However, since she reported the loss on Friday the 2nd
and there were hordes of reporters outside the store on Wednesday the 31st…
If she bought it at a convenience store or something similar that has security cameras, it would be seem easy to prove she bought the ticket. Compare the time of her buying the ticket on the camera to the lottery database and see of they match. As for any lawsuits, I can imagine them dragging on for a long time and making plenty of lawyers wealthy.
The worst lottery story happened a year or two ago. When the Powerball was up in the hundreds of millions area, a group of coworkers pooled their money to buy tickets. A winning ticket was purchased in their state and Monday morning; ticket purchaser/holder does not show up for work. Coworkers immediately jump to conclusion that their ticket won and their coworker is going to rip them off. They get a lawyer and contact the media. Media starts digging around and says that a winning ticket may have been purchased at the store. This goes on a few days.
Turns out the coworker who had the tickets was out of work due to the flu and the tickets were not winners. Nation moves closer to total collapse from stupidity. I remember watching this on the news thinking, "WTF is wrong with these people?”
I don’t know about that but there was one recently where a couple realized they had thrown out the winning ticket and was able to retrieve it because of a garbage strike. I think that was in Chicago.
I don’t see the point in checking receipts, security cameras, etc. at all. Isn’t the law written such that the person who presents the winning ticket the person that gets the money, no ifs ands or buts?
I don’t think Battle deserved anything more than a boohoo here, but now I think she deserves to have criminal charges thrown against her.
I read recently that this guy is miserable. People have been coming to him from all over the world begging for money. Of course he said publicly that he would give money to people in need so he brought it on himself.
If I were to win the lotto, I’d tell everyone I got the numbers from a Ouija board. None of that birthdays and ages bullshit.
Back when the first Powerball jackpot was won in Minnesota, a woman called the State Lottery and claimed that her maid had accidentally thrown away the ticket and wanted to know how to claim the jackpot without it.
A brief discussion of the consequences of fraud ensued, which discouraged the woman from making further attempts to claim the money.
It only came to light because the Lottery folks themselves brought it to the media, saying that you cannot claim the money without the ticket. It is a bearer instrument.
You lose it, throw it away or whatever, then tough shit. No money for you.
Otherwise they’d have 80 million people swearing up and down that they won every freaking drawing.
Ms. Battle is going through all manner of bad publicity now, all of which she brought on herself. She has trashed her own reputation in a very public, nationwide manner. Her best bet is to drop the whole thing and drop off the face of the Earth, lest she face criminal charges as well.
Too bad we can’t sucker all those cons into hounding her for her (non-existant) money for the next 20 years…
