A man sued the Washington DC lottery for USD 961.8 million after an error that led him to believe he had won

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Man Sues Powerball After Website Error Led to False $340 Million Prize

A Washington, D.C., resident, John Cheeks, has taken legal action against Powerball organizers after a mistake on the lottery website led him to believe he had won an estimated prize of $340 million.

Cheeks purchased a ticket with the numbers 7, 15, 23, 32, and 40, along with the Powerball number 2. The next day, these same numbers were posted on the DC Lottery and Gaming Office’s website as the winning numbers, leading Cheeks to believe he had won the grand prize.

However, when he tried to collect his winnings, he was informed that his ticket was invalid due to an error in the publication of the winning numbers on the website. The website had displayed two different sets of winning numbers for three days, causing confusion and distress.

The lawsuit, filed in the Civil Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, accuses Powerball and the Multi-State Lottery Association of carrying out “deception and falsehood” against Cheeks, while Taoti Enterprise, which operates the drawing website, is accused of “theft.”

Cheeks is seeking $961.8 million in “compensatory relief” from each of the defendants. The defendants have filed a motion to dismiss the case, and a lawyer for Taoti declined to comment further.

This incident has brought the responsibility and transparency of lottery operations into question, setting a precedent for how errors that can profoundly affect people’s lives are handled.

Cheeks, who has lived in Washington DC for 40 years, is seeking a resolution that will somehow offset the anguish and confusion caused by this peculiar mistake.

The legal battle sparked by the mistaken publication of the winning numbers raises critical questions about the integrity and accountability of lottery operations and the protections against errors that can have significant consequences for players.