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Feb 1, 2008, 9:50 am (8 comments)
An Australian retiree won a $1.8 million lottery prize, then lost it, and then won it again Wednesday through a court ruling.
Werner Reinhold bought the lottery ticket at a newsstand in Australia's largest city of Sydney on Sept. 19, 1995. His original ticket did not print correctly, so he asked for a new one, which turned out to be the winner.
But when Reinhold, now 73, went back to claim the $1.8 million jackpot, he discovered that the replacement ticket had been canceled, not the misprinted original, and was unable to claim the prize.
He sued NSW Lotteries, which oversees lottery tickets in New South Wales state, and the newsstand which sold him the ticket.
Supreme Court Judge Reginald Barrett awarded Reinhold $1.8 million in damages, citing negligence and breach of contract by the newsstand and the state lottery company. Barrett had not yet ruled on what portion of the award each party should pay.
AP
I'm glad he was able to get his money.
glad he got his moola
I too am glad this gentleman got his money.
Sometimes when I read or hear something, I'll get this flash of information or a perception which often makes no sense at the moment. I listen well to the stuff about me but have to filter a lot of the other stuff. I had just finished blogging on the Sumter Regional update - they won the MRI, they didn't win the MRI, they won the MRI.
Then, I see on the wire this story. . he won, he lost, he won... and my first thought was, ahhh... a trend.
Just me thinking. love hate love red white red up down up forwards backwards forwards
That would be me thinking too much.
J
How come we never see a headline, "Lottery does the right thing by their customer without being sued first."
BobP
"But when Reinhold, now 73, went back to claim the $1.8 million jackpot, he discovered that the replacement ticket had been canceled, not the misprinted original, and was unable to claim the prize."
The award isn't enough. Even if you invested it very conservatively, your money would double in 12 years. A house and/or land is worth much more than double. So he should be awarded a lot more than the original prize money. If it took over 12 years to resolve, he should at least get interest and compensated for other damages (legal fees, for example) I imagine this error had a big impact on his life. (it would on mine) I can't believe how long this winner had to wait for justice to be served and it wasn't even in a United States court! :-)
Can someone explain this to me? Let's say I bought a ticket and asked for it to be canceled. The clerk cancels the ticket and gives me a new ticket as a replacement. How would the replacement ticket get canceled? I guess it was something entered into the terminal? I've had tickets canceled before and you can see in big black, bold letters "canceled" right on them, so this must be different. I only did this when a card was run twice so I had 2 of the exact same tickets. Once that happened and I bought both of them since I usually buy the mistakes. So I guess the retailer printed a replacement ticket and then went back and keyed in something that canceled it? To think something like this can happen is disquieting, to say the least, but I hope that was because it was 1985 technology and wouldn't happen today.
How come we never see that in regards to ANY issue/problem/dispute that a customer has? Funny how the place I work thinks 'the customer is always WRONG, and we (the company) are always RIGHT'
Aint that the truth?
In Texas you can not cancel a megamillion or lottery ticket.