by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman
February 19, 2024
John Cheeks is suing Powerball and the D.C. Lottery for withholding what he believes is his rightful earnings.
Powerball is not granting an alleged winner to receive his $350 million winnings due to a website mistake. In response, John Cheeks is suing Powerball and the D.C. Lottery for withholding what he believes is his rightful earnings.
Cheeks spoke to NBC 4 about the incident, stating that he bought the ticket, playing numbers that derived from family birthdays, on Jan. 6, 2023. At the time, the jackpot had reached a massive $340 million. However, believing the odds were not strongly in his favor, he did not check his numbers on the live broadcast, only going on the DC Lottery’s website the next day to find that he seemingly won the grand prize.
For days, the website showcased the numbers found on Cheek’s ticket, but the issue stemmed from the set of 7 not matching what was broadcasted. However, Cheeks only discovered this mishap went he went to turn in his ticket, which had none of the winning numbers present.
Cheeks then went to present his case to the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming prize center, who also denied him the cash. The ticket was deemed so worthless by the center that he was told to trash it.
“’Hey, this ticket is no good. Just throw it in the trash can,’” remembered Cheeks of the employee’s words. “And I gave him a stern look. I said, ‘In the trash can?’ ‘Oh yeah, just throw it away. You’re not gonna get paid. There’s a trash can right there.’”
Despite Cheek’s quest to be the jackpot’s rightful winner, the Powerball continued to rise to $754.6 million before a new winner was announced on Feb. 6. His lawyer remains adamant that something must be done to give his client some semblance of justice for the website error.
His lawyer said, “Even if a mistake was made, the question becomes: What do you do about that?”
Cheeks continues to keep the ticket in a safe compartment as the lawsuit is underway.
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