A Dallas-area man who Travis County prosecutors say had his $1 million lottery ticket stolen by a convenience store clerk in 2009 has sued the Texas Lottery Commission and others in hopes of recovering all of his winnings.
Lawyers for Willis Willis, a retired Grand Prairie maintenance man, filed the suit in state District Court in Travis County last week against the lottery commission, GTECH Corp, which runs the lottery, and the owner of a convenience store where Willis bought his ticket.
Also sued was Pankaj Joshi, a college student who authorities say fled the country for his native Nepal in 2009, around the time authorities in Austin say they discovered that he took Willis' winning ticket and cashed it in at lottery headquarters in Austin.
Joshi did not tell Willis he'd hit the jackpot and pocketed the ticket after Willis gave it to him at the counter of Lucky Food Store #2, officials said.
Joshi has been indicted on a felony charge of claiming a lottery ticket by fraud. Austin police and Travis County prosecutors recovered about $395,000 from his bank accounts and a judge declared Willis the rightful owner of that money. Joshi received $750,000 after taxes were withheld.
With his lawsuit, Willis is demanding the rest of the jackpot and other unspecified damages.
Willis' lawyers have previously asked a judge to allow them to ask lottery officials and others questions under oath to gather information for a possible lawsuit. That request is awaiting a ruling on an appeal filed by lottery officials.
During a short hearing before state District Judge Suzanne Covington last year, Assistant Attorney General Gaston Broyles, who represents the Lottery Commission, said that a prize may not be paid twice, that a lottery ticket is a "bearer instrument" and that lottery officials are not responsible for lost or stolen tickets.
"Mr. Joshi was the bearer of that ticket," Broyles said.
Willis' lawyers have argued that it is absurd that lottery officials believe that Joshi is the winner while Austin police, Travis County prosecutors and a criminal court judge have ruled that Willis is the rightful winner.
"It has taken two years too long to pay Mr. Willis the money owed him," Sean Breen, one of Willis' lawyers, said in a statement. "We simply want the Texas Lottery or the store to pay him the money that its own agent stole."
While it offers no examples, Willis' lawsuit claims that the lottery "has been plagued by theft and corruption from store clerks (and) vendors/agents of the lottery."
Because they are not required to register with the state, store clerks are not scrutinized when presenting themselves as lottery winners, the suit said.
"While the Texas Lottery touts itself as secure to the public, it is not," the suit said.
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I was wondering when he was going to do that, I just seen it again on Lottery Changed my Life. I hope everything works out for Mr. Willis.
Do I detect a bit of sarcasm in Mr. Willis' photo? Dirty cholera bagging Nepalese dude.
about time Mr. Willis.....
It's a shame...but the fact of the matter is he didn't sign the back of his ticket. So the lack of solid proof that the stolen winning ticket was his is why the Lotto folk held back in paying him full.
So we have learned two lessons from this incident:
1. NEVER let another person check your ticket. The Internet exists for a reason.
However if you really can't access the Internet and need someone to check the ticket...
2. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS sign the back of your ticket!
but obviously not everyone has access nore realize thars more then a few places like thar local library offers it or feels they have any use for it and or lack the interest
as for signing the ticket thats a no brainer
While you are at it:
3. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make extra photocopies, preferrably of the SIGNED ticket.....that would definitely put a nice firewall on would be gas station clerk thieves!
Joshi has been indicted on a felony charge of claiming a lottery ticket by fraud. Austin police and Travis County prosecutors recovered about $395,000 from his bank accounts and a judge declared Willis the rightful owner of that money. Joshi received $750,000 after taxes were withheld.
During a short hearing before state District Judge Suzanne Covington last year, Assistant Attorney General Gaston Broyles, who represents the Lottery Commission, said that a prize may not be paid twice, that a lottery ticket is a "bearer instrument" and that lottery officials are not responsible for lost or stolen tickets.
"Mr. Joshi was the bearer of that ticket," Broyles said.
They say that Joshi was the bearer of the ticket as if to say that it's his money because his name was on the ticket, but it's obvious per the earlier paragraph where they mention that money was recovered from one of Joshi's accounts and given to Willis that they believe Willis is the owner of the ticket. I think they should just give him the $355,000 that Joshi got away with, but I do think they have a good argument in that they're not responsible for lost/stolen tickets. It's a tough situation.
Now, with all the work the lawyers did, Mr. Willis would require tens of thousands of dollars more to reimburse his lawyers. What a sad, painful, and frustrating retirement time.
I recently saw a tv show about crooked lottery clerks on you tube ( may have been dateline) but they had video from the stores cameras showing people buying the ticket and the clerk taking it. They used tickets that were they knew were winners.
They were able to prove the clerks took the ticket, the time the ticket was sold originally, and who bought it from the lottery computer system plus the stores video. I don't know why they couldn't do that in this case.
Besides signing the ticket, the best thing to do would be to ask the clerk for a print out of the winning numbers for that date and check the tickets yourself.
I would think the only way they could hold the lottery commission liable is if they knew this is a regular occurrence and they have failed to institute better safeguards. Otherwise, I think the store should be liable for the guy's money. It was their employee who stole it in the line of his work.
What could lotteries do to keep this from happening so often? I wish the machine would print a receipt every time a ticket was checked that is given to the player. That wouldn't help occasional players tho, who wouldn't know to demand the receipt. Plus I guess a clerk could keep a $2 winner receipt handy and switch it with a receipt for a bigger win. The player would only know if they checked the time stamp on the receipt closely. There's gotta be a better way.
The Idaho lottery prints a receipt for any winning tickets that are scanned, but it's not given to the player. It's stapled to the ticket and put in a box. That tells them the correct amount was paid out, but it doesn't give a clue who it was paid to. The clerk could easily take the money themselves which doesn't do a bit of good.
willis willis committed a grievous error due to his laziness and it cost him..why play the lottery if you aren't able or willing to check your own numbers. if no computer check newspaper or find store that records them on monthly sheet on lottery stand...somehow find a way to do it yourself. you can't trust an 8.00 an hour clerk who are just waiting for this opportunity...on a smaller scale it's done on unsuspecting scratch ticket players too lazy to read their prize.. they hand the ticket to the clerk he give them 20 instead of 200 for example and pockets the difference... happens every day... wake up players...
The Chris Hansen thing? I remember there were quite a few on there that would throw the ticket away then pick it out of the trash when the customer left or only give the person $2-$3.
And yea I've mentioned numerous times that people should check tickets themselves online if they have access and if not either scan it themselves in store or ask for a winning number printout (most stores have them already printed out). Personally I don't want the clerk to know that I'm the one who won so letting them verify tickets for me is a definite no. I'd still want to go there afterwards so I'd play off my win by still playing the games that didn't win (ie; play PB if MM won).
Best wishes Mr. Willis, I hope you win.
Thru the years so many store clerks have stolen lottery prizes and the state lotteries have failed to prevent it, they have not even tried, that is until now, they have put machines in the stores where people can by themselves check their own tickets.
If at the time that the ticket was stolen those machines where already there then the state lottery is clean, that is not at fault, otherwise they are at fault and should pay not just for the rest of the money, but also for interest on it and for all the trouble and anguish that the winner had to endure and also pay for all the legal fees and any other fees that apply.
Nowdays if you don't check your own ticket first, too bad, you yourself should be at fault, cause once you know that you won then you should sign the ticket, before you give it to anybody.
Idaho has the checker machines but they don't tell you how much the ticket is worth! They just say to contact the clerk. Practically worthless.
The law is an ass.
I know I am going to offend a lot of goodie-goodie folks, and so be it.
The TX Lottery does not owe this man JACK SQUAT!!!
NOTHING!!!
NADA!!!
NOT ONE THIN DIME!!!
Why should they? If anything, the TX Lottery Commission should sue Willis-Willis for being careless and lazy.
If you read the earlier stories posted here at Lottery Post, you will see where Willis-Willis gave all kinds of excuses to justify not checking his own fricking ticket.
Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't all lottery tickets tell YOU to SIGN YOUR TICKET?
Haven't this been printed on all tickets since Moses was a baby?????!!!!!
Unless there is something not revealed in the stories that has been published for the public, The TX Lottery Commission DOES NOT OWE THIS MAN A THING!!
Why didn't Willis-Willis pick up a results slip from any store he frequented? Why didn't Willis-Willis scan his ticket himself?
Willis-Willis should be grateful that he was able to recover something at all.
I am NOT condoning what Josi did. I do not approve of stealing at all.
But there is no way any responsible lottery player can justify the irresponsibilities practiced by Willis-Willis.
If the trial is held in Dallas, I would love to be on the jury. I would rule in favor of the defense (TX Lottery).
If a lottery player is not willing to be held accountable for their carelessness, then either stop playing or get used to being ripped off.
When you are too lazy to check your own tickets or too lazy to sign your winning tickets(IN INK), then you forfeit the right to complain or cry foul!!
The photo of Willis-Willis standing with his pockets turned inside out is a sham. It made me want to reach out and smack him.
The lazy puppy.......
The deli I buy my tickets from has not fixed their ticket scanner (the one that bypasses the clerk) for almost a year now, and I'm just wondering if it's because they want to check everybody's ticket for obvious reasons. One time I handed the clerk one of my $5 QP tickets and she proceeded to scan it. However, I was watching the lotto screen, waiting for "Sorry not a winner" or something else pop up like I've seen it do before. I heard it beep, but no message came up, and she told me it wasn't a winner. I was expecting her to hand me the ticket back, but she just smiled at me and I kinda wussed out and walked away. That was the first and last time I let them scan it for me because I generally scan my own tickets or check them on USAMega. Do you think I'm just paranoid? Has anyone else had a store where the check-it-yourself scanner was broken for prolonged periods of time? It just says "offline" but it's still powered on, so I'm assuming it's just disconnected from the central lotto computer. I think I'm going to ask the clerks or owners why it's not working tomorrow when I get some self-picks...
the law not the issue here
the idiot who blindly gives hes ticket away not knowing its a winner and amount before in, is also as guilty, what is he guilty of? being stupid.
as charged he stands guilty and is lucky he even got some cash back, but now hes just sharing it with lawyers inc.
the fact is the clerk a theft that deserves to die, and this idiot deserves what he got for being so stupid
if he wants he money, he can fly he beep over to home land of the theft and take part in a good old man hunt or something like that.
if i ever turned in a winning ticket without first knowing i won or not, i think i shoot my self
i guest you could say people are to tursting, trust is not a issue, being a idiot is. and he was a prime idiot
the lottery should not have to pay a penny more, Why, cease their a set amount of prize pool, if he gets hes share twice, hes a jerk to the rest of them
however the lottery has their own dirty serects, the unclaimed winners, aka left over amounts in the prize pool, instand of ever getting back to players, they just put it into their state fund atfer claiming time pasted
so its not like the money set aside for that game prize pool could not pay for hes win. but the turth is, lottery greedy , evil, and stupid"not all of them but a lot of them are when it comes to clerks and checking tickets" them self's for not having a scan your self term at ever ticket area, why wait the clerk time scaning losers for lazy idiots
god forbid people look at their instance tickets/pb/mm whatever lottery tickets and check to see if they won
their lazy and stupid and walk into a store like clock work, taking everyone's time to check ever single loser they have
ofc a clerk going to know you won and take the winner, your being a dumbass, human's are not all angles, their many thefts, and if you make it so the thefts get away free, without worry of any real justice. you have whoever tends to steal come out and do it
this clerk had a plan, and was a theft,
if a clerk scaned even a just a pb/mm winner of 3/2 bucks and tryed to rob me, i <snip>ing jump the son of a beep and if he was not fired and labeled a theft on a crimal record, i freaking do justice my self and make sure that beep never works again
you have to have a ruthless unforgiving justice to stop high amounts of people being thefts
to their real justice and fear of death for even a pity crime, stealing will real wild, so the lottery winner, and ever person easy on crime is supporting these type of stories being in the future
clerks who steal deserve death, period. but its up to people who get wronged to do the justice them selfs
in short, this idiot deserved to get stealed form, and the theft deserves to die
His 1st mistake was not signing it,the second one was that he trusted a Muslim ..Never go to a store that is runned by terrorist.Why do you think they are all over our contry with all these stores?They are not our friends..
Whoa there greeneye. You're being prejudice and ignorant. Being Muslim does not automatically equate to being a terrorist. I didn't read anything about Mr. Joshi's religious beliefs and I am pretty sure the dominant religion in Nepal is Hinduism, not Islam. Apparently grammar and spelling aren't your friends either. It's because of people like you that I gotta take s**t from folks in NJ when I tell them I'm from the south.
this is incident has been exposing more and more latly . is getting scary to trust the lottery clerks specialy at areas where you dont know them or even know them . is good that ny lottery provide the ticket check machine so you can check it yourself instead of handing it to the clerk . however some of them places i see they dont have them and that makes me suspicious . what we all should learn from all this always check your tickets either DIY units or online or if no option then get the ticket back from the clerk and check somewhere else to be sure about it.
I doubt if Willis will be successful filing a suit this late after the drawing. If he is, it could change some of the rules lotteries now have to protect themselves and the retailers selling their tickets.
For example the rules that any claims must be made within a year or less of the drawing and that tickets will be treated as bearer instruments that should be signed by their owners after purchase.
Whoa,greeneye, here take a brown paper bag and breathe in and out of it slowly before you hyperventilate, wow! You have a bone to crush with somebody much? And, for the record, I am not Asian (yes, Nepal is IN Asia) but even I know Joshi is NOT an arabic name (note, the names are arabic not muslim just like christians claim that the bibilical names are christian rather, they are of Hebrew origin, mostly but I digress). But green, take it easy, no body is after you, believe me, enjoy life and work hard......no need to hate on people different THAN you.
Crazy, on behalf of all southerners, I apologise profoundly, we have a few crazy eggs in the nest. Do ignore them, please.
Perdue,I must agree with you on this one, Texas Lotto needs to sue for defamation to say the least. Let's say he cannot/does not know how to check his own lotto tickets, the least he could do is SIGN the darn piece of paper!
It boils down to "anyone can sue anybody for anything" but they have to convince a jury.
This jury will probably hear the Texas Lottery acted irresponsible by not having the amount won by the player visible in plain sight to the customer and/or that the clerk is indirectly employed by the lottery. They might include precedents where the Lottery has suspended agents from cheating customers in the past. If they can convince a jury, the plaintiff will awarded the rest of the prize.
I don't know how or if the Lottery investigate large winners, but had they asked for "place of employment" or for "citizenship", they might have seen a red flag worth investigating. When I first read about this several months ago, I wondered why the Lottery would risk bad press by taking a chance he could win his case and opening the door for other lawsuits.
It will be interesting.
"I didn't read anything about Mr. Joshi's religious beliefs and I am pretty sure the dominant religion in Nepal is Hinduism, not Islam."
I believe the predominate religion in Nepal is Buddhist, but religion is not a factor unless Joshi's religion has a "thou shalt steal" commandment.
Let me say this - there are some clerks that are nice people. And I know that some store clerks happen to be the owner(s). But the majority of people working as store clerks are doing so for a good reason, and that is that they could not find employment elsewhere (tell me, when the teacher asked what people wanted to be in life, how many kids raised their hands and said, "I want to be a convenience store clerk!!!"). If not the owner but instead are just employees, they are likely earning minimum wage, supporting a smoking habit, drive a beater, and probably working another gig just to make ends meet. And in the case it is the owner, you don't know how business is going for that person. Things could be tough and they could be looking for available options for cashflow. So why in the world would ANYONE trust such a person to check a potential 5 figure, 6 figure, 7 figure, or 8 figure winning ticket is beyond me!!! For all the people who read this and think they can trust their local clerk, I would say you might as well just go to the store and give the clerk whatever amount of money you planned to spend on lottery tickets because you are doing exactly that when you hand over an unsigned, unchecked ticket to such a person. Sure, many states are installing those machines that make a noise when a winning ticket of any size is run through it. But for scratch-ifs, the clerk must enter the code at the bottom in order for that to sound. So if anyone is playing a confusing (to them) scratch off game and not really know if it is a winner or not, then you could still be had by an unscrupulus store clerk.
A fail safe option for those choosing to continue to let store clerks check the tickets is to tell them you want your tickets back for tax purposes, especially the losers. Just be sure to keep an eye out for the sly clerk that may have a stash of known losers right by the machine ready to make a swap of the loser for your "unknown" winner. So again, just go to the particular website or call the lottery number for the winning numbers (I was going to say check the newspaper but they have been known to make a mistake with the winning numbers). If you insist on going to the store for the winning numbers, JUST request a printout of the previous (or applicable) winning numbers. That can be done WITHOUT handing your ticket over to the clerk. I only hand over tickets for which I know how much I have won and can only redeem those winnings from an authorized lottery retailer. And yes, I sign the ticket before handing it over.