this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024
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Man sues Powerball lottery after being told his apparent $340m win was error (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 8 months ago by oleorun to c/weirdnews
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

There was a promotion in the Philippines in the 80's by Pepsi. Where people can win millions of pesos with a set of numbers printed under the caps of Pepsi soda bottles. On the day of a drawing the officials made a mistake of saying the wrong numbers, unfortunately that set of numbers numbered in the thousands instead of the just one that was supposed to win. It ended in a lawsuit that I think still ongoing today.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

He shoulda got that jet.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

Didn't this result in Pepsi closing their operations in the Philippines, and/or most Filipinos (understandably) despising Pepsi as a result?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago

On my state's lotto page it says pretty clearly "We make every effort to have accurate winning number information on calottery.com, but mistakes can occur." i.e. don't count your chickens before they hatch.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I bet the back of the ticket has enough legalese they don't have to pay. But on the other hand, if he can prove actual damages? Idk maybe.

If he put non refundable money down on high priced attorneys and financial people, non refundable money down on a Ferrari.... Then he's probably stupid.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I'd suspect his angle will be psychological damages

[–] [email protected] 80 points 8 months ago (5 children)

TLDR: A glitch on the website showed test numbers. The ones drawn earlier in the week on live tv weren’t the numbers shown on the website for a couple of hours.

IMHO: Dude’s gonna lose his lawsuit because of the live drawing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It wasn't a glitch, it was them testing the website. It wasn't hours, it was three days. Did you bother reading the article before making that incorrect tl;dr?

No, he won't be losing, it was posted on the office site for an extended period of time.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68343150

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago

Last November, the Iowa Lottery posted the wrong Powerball numbers, citing a “human reporting error”. However, the Iowa Lottery said that the temporary winners – people who had the numbers at issue – could keep their prizes, which ranged from $4 to $200.

I wonder how this precedent is going to be factored into this situation. $4-$200 is much easier to say "just let them have it" than the jackpot

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I don't think the guy is going to get anything out of suing them either.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Til test numbers should have Greek symbols.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

"...this new suit, brought by Theo Kostantanopolous.."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There would be good reason not to do this when testing the backend of a computer system for accuracy.

That being said, if the display is in test mode there no reason not to set the font to Wingdings. And probably have a big “TEST MODE -NOT OFFICIAL” banner.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

There's no reason not to put up the real numbers, least of all for the three days these were up for.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Depends on how much the guy did in reasonable expectation of having won.

Like if he quit his job thinking he could retire it'd be rash but not unreasonable for a lottery winner.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Quitting your job before getting any actual money would be a total Chad move. Now he would have to Larry David his way back in by just showing up back at with like nothing happened.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

That's what a lot of people have done. It was also up for three days so it's not unreasonable.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A man who thought he had won a $340m Powerball jackpot is suing the lottery after the game’s administrators said their website only showed his numbers as the winning combination by mistake.

Washington DC resident John Cheeks purchased a Powerball lottery ticket at the center of the dispute on 6 January 2023.

Other defendants named in Cheeks’s lawsuit include the Multi-State Lottery Association and game contractor Taoti Enterprises.

At 12.09pm that day, the Taoti quality assurance team accidentally posted test Powerball numbers on the game’s live website rather than a development environment which mimicked the site but was not viewable to the public, according to Bailey.

Despite Taoti’s claims, Cheeks’s attorney Richard Evans told NBC Washington: “They have said that one of their contractors made a mistake.

Last November, the Iowa Lottery posted the wrong Powerball numbers, citing a “human reporting error”.

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