A Dallas-area man who Travis County prosecutors say had his $1 million lottery ticket stolen by a convenience store clerk in 2009 has sued the Texas Lottery Commission and others in hopes of recovering all of his winnings.
Lawyers for Willis Willis, a retired Grand Prairie maintenance man, filed the suit in state District Court in Travis County last week against the lottery commission, GTECH Corp, which runs the lottery, and the owner of a convenience store where Willis bought his ticket.
Also sued was Pankaj Joshi, a college student who authorities say fled the country for his native Nepal in 2009, around the time authorities in Austin say they discovered that he took Willis' winning ticket and cashed it in at lottery headquarters in Austin.
Joshi did not tell Willis he'd hit the jackpot and pocketed the ticket after Willis gave it to him at the counter of Lucky Food Store #2, officials said.
Joshi has been indicted on a felony charge of claiming a lottery ticket by fraud. Austin police and Travis County prosecutors recovered about $395,000 from his bank accounts and a judge declared Willis the rightful owner of that money. Joshi received $750,000 after taxes were withheld.
With his lawsuit, Willis is demanding the rest of the jackpot and other unspecified damages.
Willis' lawyers have previously asked a judge to allow them to ask lottery officials and others questions under oath to gather information for a possible lawsuit. That request is awaiting a ruling on an appeal filed by lottery officials.
During a short hearing before state District Judge Suzanne Covington last year, Assistant Attorney General Gaston Broyles, who represents the Lottery Commission, said that a prize may not be paid twice, that a lottery ticket is a "bearer instrument" and that lottery officials are not responsible for lost or stolen tickets.
"Mr. Joshi was the bearer of that ticket," Broyles said.
Willis' lawyers have argued that it is absurd that lottery officials believe that Joshi is the winner while Austin police, Travis County prosecutors and a criminal court judge have ruled that Willis is the rightful winner.
"It has taken two years too long to pay Mr. Willis the money owed him," Sean Breen, one of Willis' lawyers, said in a statement. "We simply want the Texas Lottery or the store to pay him the money that its own agent stole."
While it offers no examples, Willis' lawsuit claims that the lottery "has been plagued by theft and corruption from store clerks (and) vendors/agents of the lottery."
Because they are not required to register with the state, store clerks are not scrutinized when presenting themselves as lottery winners, the suit said.
"While the Texas Lottery touts itself as secure to the public, it is not," the suit said.
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I was wondering when he was going to do that, I just seen it again on Lottery Changed my Life. I hope everything works out for Mr. Willis.
Do I detect a bit of sarcasm in Mr. Willis' photo? Dirty cholera bagging Nepalese dude.
about time Mr. Willis.....
It's a shame...but the fact of the matter is he didn't sign the back of his ticket. So the lack of solid proof that the stolen winning ticket was his is why the Lotto folk held back in paying him full.
So we have learned two lessons from this incident:
1. NEVER let another person check your ticket. The Internet exists for a reason.
However if you really can't access the Internet and need someone to check the ticket...
2. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS sign the back of your ticket!
but obviously not everyone has access nore realize thars more then a few places like thar local library offers it or feels they have any use for it and or lack the interest
as for signing the ticket thats a no brainer
While you are at it:
3. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make extra photocopies, preferrably of the SIGNED ticket.....that would definitely put a nice firewall on would be gas station clerk thieves!
Joshi has been indicted on a felony charge of claiming a lottery ticket by fraud. Austin police and Travis County prosecutors recovered about $395,000 from his bank accounts and a judge declared Willis the rightful owner of that money. Joshi received $750,000 after taxes were withheld.
During a short hearing before state District Judge Suzanne Covington last year, Assistant Attorney General Gaston Broyles, who represents the Lottery Commission, said that a prize may not be paid twice, that a lottery ticket is a "bearer instrument" and that lottery officials are not responsible for lost or stolen tickets.
"Mr. Joshi was the bearer of that ticket," Broyles said.
They say that Joshi was the bearer of the ticket as if to say that it's his money because his name was on the ticket, but it's obvious per the earlier paragraph where they mention that money was recovered from one of Joshi's accounts and given to Willis that they believe Willis is the owner of the ticket. I think they should just give him the $355,000 that Joshi got away with, but I do think they have a good argument in that they're not responsible for lost/stolen tickets. It's a tough situation.
Now, with all the work the lawyers did, Mr. Willis would require tens of thousands of dollars more to reimburse his lawyers. What a sad, painful, and frustrating retirement time.
I recently saw a tv show about crooked lottery clerks on you tube ( may have been dateline) but they had video from the stores cameras showing people buying the ticket and the clerk taking it. They used tickets that were they knew were winners.
They were able to prove the clerks took the ticket, the time the ticket was sold originally, and who bought it from the lottery computer system plus the stores video. I don't know why they couldn't do that in this case.
Besides signing the ticket, the best thing to do would be to ask the clerk for a print out of the winning numbers for that date and check the tickets yourself.
I would think the only way they could hold the lottery commission liable is if they knew this is a regular occurrence and they have failed to institute better safeguards. Otherwise, I think the store should be liable for the guy's money. It was their employee who stole it in the line of his work.
What could lotteries do to keep this from happening so often? I wish the machine would print a receipt every time a ticket was checked that is given to the player. That wouldn't help occasional players tho, who wouldn't know to demand the receipt. Plus I guess a clerk could keep a $2 winner receipt handy and switch it with a receipt for a bigger win. The player would only know if they checked the time stamp on the receipt closely. There's gotta be a better way.
The Idaho lottery prints a receipt for any winning tickets that are scanned, but it's not given to the player. It's stapled to the ticket and put in a box. That tells them the correct amount was paid out, but it doesn't give a clue who it was paid to. The clerk could easily take the money themselves which doesn't do a bit of good.
willis willis committed a grievous error due to his laziness and it cost him..why play the lottery if you aren't able or willing to check your own numbers. if no computer check newspaper or find store that records them on monthly sheet on lottery stand...somehow find a way to do it yourself. you can't trust an 8.00 an hour clerk who are just waiting for this opportunity...on a smaller scale it's done on unsuspecting scratch ticket players too lazy to read their prize.. they hand the ticket to the clerk he give them 20 instead of 200 for example and pockets the difference... happens every day... wake up players...
The Chris Hansen thing? I remember there were quite a few on there that would throw the ticket away then pick it out of the trash when the customer left or only give the person $2-$3.
And yea I've mentioned numerous times that people should check tickets themselves online if they have access and if not either scan it themselves in store or ask for a winning number printout (most stores have them already printed out). Personally I don't want the clerk to know that I'm the one who won so letting them verify tickets for me is a definite no. I'd still want to go there afterwards so I'd play off my win by still playing the games that didn't win (ie; play PB if MM won).
Best wishes Mr. Willis, I hope you win.
Thru the years so many store clerks have stolen lottery prizes and the state lotteries have failed to prevent it, they have not even tried, that is until now, they have put machines in the stores where people can by themselves check their own tickets.
If at the time that the ticket was stolen those machines where already there then the state lottery is clean, that is not at fault, otherwise they are at fault and should pay not just for the rest of the money, but also for interest on it and for all the trouble and anguish that the winner had to endure and also pay for all the legal fees and any other fees that apply.
Nowdays if you don't check your own ticket first, too bad, you yourself should be at fault, cause once you know that you won then you should sign the ticket, before you give it to anybody.