Valid $179 Million Lost Lottery Ticket Turned In- Battle Looms Over 'Lost Property'

Detroit Free Press ^ | 1/6/04

[11th Earl of Mar]

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Someone turned in a valid ticket for the $162 million Mega Millions multistate lottery jackpot, the Ohio Lottery said Tuesday, a day after a Cleveland woman claimed she lost the winning ticket outside the convenience store where it was sold.

[ClintonBeGone]

Elecia Battle is a fairly young black woman. Don't let the winner be white or all hell is going to break loose.

[AppyPappy]

In short, this woman cannot prove the ticket was hers.

[NormsRevenge]

I just hope Dennis Kucinich or Jerry Springer didn't win.

[NormsRevenge]

Might there be latent prints, perhaps?

What a screwup. LOL

[2banana]

Hey, those are my numbers too! And I lost a ticket too!

[KantianBurke]

If she can, split the winnings. If she can't, she should get nothing.

[It's me]

No, especially when one of the "significant" numbers represents a son's birthday - reversed.
Another two numbers are the month and day of another son.

Yeah right!

[Darth Reagan]

I hope the winner is young. Usually they are older, retired folks who aren't going to get to enjoy the money and will soon be passing a lot to the government in the form of estate tax.

[NorthGA]

Unless there is store video to match her buying a ticket with the time the number was purchased via the lottery system the system - she has no proof other than "I want some of that money."

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[gridlock]

Fear not. She will soon hear those magic seven words: "How much to make you go away..."

[11th Earl of Mar]

Finders keepers...

But even a wrong fool who has lawyer, can cause many problems.

[HiTech RedNeck]

But what would be the odds that she would claim to have lost that specific ticket in a specific area, then have somebody find it there. It's not as if this kind of claim pops up every day. The odds of that being phony are astronomically low.

I hope they come to agreement to split it half and half after taxes.

[AppyPappy]

What are the odds she had someone she knew in the lottery department that fed her the data?

[OneTimeLurker]

Exactly. If they can show it is hers, the legally she would probably be entitled to its return. "Finders keepers" is not really the law in this type of situation since the ticket was lost, not abandoned.

[Bikers4Bush]

The ticket was turned in and the winner is NOT the woman who claims to have lost it.

The woman has played the same numbers off and on over time using a "bet" ticket.

The only question that remains is if charges will be filed against the scumbag who tried to claim the ticket was hers and that she lost it.

[gipper81]

That ticket is going to be dusted for prints, DNA and who knows what else and some expensive legal teams are going to get their fair share as well. Wonder what this does for case law and other precedents.

[Gaetano]

claim the money anonymously and get the hell out of Cleve-burg !!