DES MOINES, Iowa — A Des Moines, Iowa, man is facing a charge of underage gambling after he collected a $100,000 Iowa Lottery prize this summer.
Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says 20-year-old Jobie Boals-Watters brought the winning Mega Crossword instant scratch game ticket to lottery headquarters in Clive on July 30.
"At the time, he provided us with information and everything seemed to be on the up and up and the prize was claimed," Neubauer said.
While it's illegal for someone under 21 to purchase an Iowa Lottery ticket, a person under 21 can claim a prize if the ticket was purchased legally by someone who is of age. Boals-Watters claimed a co-worker bought his ticket. A few days after he claimed the prize, an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers led the Iowa Lottery to further investigate Boals-Watters' story.
"One of the things we did was pull the security camera footage from the store when the ticket was purchased and indeed, we determined that Jobie Boals-Watters had been the one who purchased the winning ticket," Neubauer said. "He was only 20 at the time, which meant the purchase was not legal, which meant the winning ticket was invalid." Boals-Watter has pleaded not guilty to the charge of underage gambling. A hearing in the case is scheduled for January 13 in Polk County District Court.
The investigators said there were no signs of an office pool for tickets, and the suspect later admitted he spends hundreds of dollars a week buying lottery tickets, officials said.
"The law is in place for a reason. We need to make sure the law is being followed," Neubauer said.
"The lottery will be seeking to have the prize money returned to us through the legal process," Neubauer said. Boals-Watters stood to collect $70,000 after taxes. The ticket was purchased at Super Quick Foods on Southeast 30th Street in Des Moines. That store is now facing a suspension from the Iowa Lottery for failing to ID Boals-Watters when he allegedly bought the ticket.
"Under the lottery's administrative rules, a store's license to sell lottery products will be suspended for one week for a first time violation of an underage sale," Neubauer said. According to Neubauer, underage violations relating to lottery products are relatively rare in Iowa.
"This is an unusual case. The good news is that underage violations are few and far between here in Iowa," Neubauer said. "We think that we have a retail environment that functions really well and, by and large, our retailers do a good job of checking IDs and making sure they're complying with the law."
In 2015, there have been two documented occurrences of underage purchase of Iowa Lottery tickets. There were no documented cases in 2014, one in 2013, one in 2012, and one in 2011.
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If he was legal enough to cash it in, he should be able to purchase it also. Make the age 18 yrs and older!!!
GIVE THE GUY HIS MONEY.
Stupid Laws make for stupid situations like this one
RIDICULOUS.
Legalism is one pathetic way of living!
12/24/15
He's not old enough to collect his prize because he was 20 at the time of purchase but could have collected if someone else who was 21 bought the ticket
Iowa a little backwards on this issue?
In NJ you have to be 18 years old to play.
Who made the anonymous tip? Some jealous friend?
Hes most likely out on his own making his own living.I come to hate these lotteries..So crooked and they always have an excuse for doing whats right...
Does Iowa keep the $ ?
Greedy a-holes !
Tip to crime stoppers = waste of resources, as Raven62 said "jealous friend ? some friend...tell no one !
As Gleno said make it 18 !
If he's old enough to vote, or fight for his Country, he's old enough to buy and redeem Lotto tickets..
These laws should be symmetrical across the united States, and not up for some states. Iowa, get with the program....!!
Exactly what I was thinking. Guy can go to war and get his a$$ shot up but he's too young to buy a lottery ticket?
That's stupid worthless politicians making up those rules.
If he's old enough to vote, or fight for his Country, he's old enough to buy and redeem Lotto tickets..
While I totally agree with you on the substance of what you said, the fact is that the law is the law is the law in the state of Iowa.
He is under age to redeem a lottery ticket in the state of Iowa.
The idiots in the state legislature needs to change the law, or better yet I should say the idiots in the state should have their state legislators change the law to drop the legal age to purchase and or redeem a lottery ticket from 21 to 18.
~Michael
Does Iowa not have the vending machines yet? Cuz it would be impossible to hold a store responsible for who buys out of those.
I often see LITTLE kids buying from the vending machines here. I actually cut in front of one because it just didn't dawn on me that an 8 year old would be buying tickets, I thought she was just waiting for Mom or something. I'm pretty sure there's an age limit here but it's obviously not enforced.
Give the guy his money plz!!! How old does he have to be to consent to sex? How old does he have
to be to vote? how old does he have to be to go to prison or something as noble as war war?
Yet he cant collect his $100,000 winnings at 20 yrs of age? Hope the judge sees this for what it
really is.
Clint
Nothing less than a Money Grab on the lottery's part. Give the guy his money and send a clear message to others who may try this in the future. A strict warning should do the trick.
You can join the military but can't purchase a lottery ticket before you are 21? So much wrong with that kind of thinking.