Indiana Man Cheated Out of $11.5 Million Dollar Jackpot

Charles Andrews, a 70 year old retired chemist, is suing a convenience store chain for over $11 million dollars claiming he was cheated out of a huge lottery jackpot after an employee at the store refused to sell him a lottery ticket. In his lawsuit Andrews claims he picked the winning numbers for a Hoosier lottery drawing in February 2008. He states that a clerk at the store refused to sell him a lottery ticket minutes before the official sales cutoff at 10:40 PM. Andrews said that the clerk told him the lottery terminal was not working and later printed out a list of winning numbers which proved the lottery terminal was actually working. The clerk told Andrews that the manager did not like to sell any lottery tickets after 10 PM and said that other store employees also refused to sell him a ticket. One of Andrew's lawyers, Bob Burkett, stated, "They had an obligation to issue him a ticket because he was there before 10:40."

Andrews is disabled and as a result could not get to another store on time and signed his play slip and left it at the store so he would have proof in case his numbers were winning ones. Andrews stated, "I knew if I walked out the door with the pay slip and I won any money at all with those numbers I couldn't prove that was the pay slip I left with the employees." Andrew's lawyers are arguing that the store was legally obliged to sell him a ticket up to the official cutoff time. The suit was originally filed in Marion County Indiana but was transferred to federal court at the insistence of the Speedway Corporation, the owners of the store. Andrew's suit accuses the Speedway store of breach of contract and negligence and seeks damages of $11.5 million dollars, the size of the jackpot, and punitive damages.

Speedway SuperAmerica LLC is arguing that they were under no obligation to sell the lottery ticket and are questioning Andrew's version of events. Andrew's attorneys are trying to access store security videos. A Hoosier lottery spokesman said that lottery retailers can set their own hours for selling tickets as long as they stop selling by the 10:40 PM cutoff time. Lottery spokeswoman Lucia Anderson stated, "It's up to the individual retail location." One of Andrew's lawyers said the law is not clear and stated, "There is no statute addressing the retail hours and whether they can set it or not set it." One of Andrew's lawyers, Josh Brown said that the agreement between the lottery and retailers requires stores that sell lottery tickets to post game and date lists and believes that it should include hours of play.

This will be an interesting case to follow. The results of this case may force lottery retailers to clearly state their hours of operation. Hopefully Mr. Andrews will be awarded the jackpot he was cheated out of by an indolent clerk.