TRENTON, NJ — Two friends who claim they bought a Powerball ticket worth $1 million at a Mahwah convenience store last year sued the New Jersey Lottery Commission yesterday, claiming they tossed out the ticket because the state was too slow to update its website with the winning numbers.
Salvatore Cambria and Erik Onyango claim in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Trenton that they picked five of six numbers drawn on March 23, 2013, the same day a Passaic deli owner scored the $338 million Powerball jackpot prize.
The Suffern, N.Y. friends say that even though they didn't pick the winning Powerball number the combination they chose entitled them to a $1 million consolation payout, the lawsuit says.
During a telephone conversation the night numbers were drawn, Onyango relayed the winning numbers to Cambria off the commission's website, the lawsuit claims.
"The operators of the website had not timely updated the current winning numbers," it adds.
Believing he'd lost, Cambria discarded the $1 million ticket, the lawsuit claims.
When the two men went to the commission earlier this year with their claim they were told they were out of luck, their attorney says.
"They were told that without the ticket they were not going to pay," said attorney Edward Logan.
Logan says the two men regularly bought lottery tickets for one another at the Mahwah 7-11.
On March 23, 2013, Onyango bought three tickets, keeping two for himself and turning over a third to Cambria.
The friends say they can prove the ticket that went to Cambria is the winning one because it was the middle ticket of three they purchased that day. Onyango kept the other two tickets, which include their serial numbers.
"The plaintiffs here may not have produced the winning ticket but have tendered two of the three tickets purchased in immediate succession and can prove that they in fact purchased and possessed the original ticket," Logan writes in the lawsuit.
Judith Drucker, a spokeswoman for the commission, declined to comment.
Also named as a defendant is the Multi-State Lottery Association and Gov. Chris Christie.
Pedro Quezada, a Dominican immigrant and the owner of the Apple Deli Grocery in Passaic won the March 2013 jackpot, the fourth largest in Powerball history.
Quezada took his lottery winnings in a lump sum of $221 million or $152 million after taxes.
"Imagine... so much money," Quezada said at a press conference held a few days after he'd won. "But it will not change my heart."
they're too frickin lazy to get the printed results and check their numbers, they carelessly toss a winning ticket and wants to cry foul....
these two should be posted on world's dumbest lottery players along with many others.
the state doesn't owe these two morons squat.
ok.....
maybe the state does owe them a swift kick in the butt.
LOL
i will be following this story though.
i remember this significantly huge jackpot
by Mr.Pedro Quesada think his name es.In any event,the plaintiff is suing,so i will await to see
obtuse or not on their end,i still want to see the adjudication on this lawsuit,pretty interesting.
adios!
Unfortunately no ticket, no money, this isn't Canada! lol kinda sucks!!
Did they consult with Mr. Shaske before filing this lawsuit?
No Lottery Commission is going to go ahead and honor this " missing ticket"- it would open up a flood gate of other silly complaints from lottery players.
If these guys tossed their ticket, how is that the Commissions fault?
That's like rear ending someone and complaining that the reason you did is because the person in front of you...Stopped!
I just clicked on the NJ lottery website winning numbers page. For each game it has the name of the game, then says "current winning numbers", with the day of the week, the date, and the number. Apparently they didn't bother to look at the day and date. If they still have the other two tickets, they should be able to prove they had it. However the fact that they don't, is pure stupidity on their part.
Another question is, even if the lottery agrees that it was their ticket, would the lottery cash it if it is past the redemption date?
Having the TWO tickets does not translate into having the "3rd" winning one.
Remember that scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies where he throws a German officer out of the Zeppelin for having " No Ticket! " No proof, no cash.l cannot see any court siding with these guys.
It may turn out the third one was cashed and the two losers were discarded by the real winner. It makes no sense to discard the winner and keep the losers.
A good Attorney would stay away from this case, unless these clowns promised him Half.
Not only would any attorney taking this case expect half of the winnings but also a non refundable large deposit just in case he lost.
Brilliant point. They just happened to keep the two losing tickets for over a year, but the ticket with the winning numbers is the one they threw away. Sure, that makes sense.
How stupid does a person have to be to not check the date of the numbers? How many times can people in this country bring lawsuits against others for their own stupidity. I pray to God that they are made to pay the fees for the defense once they lose.
How about this scenario RJOH : They Did purchase 3 tickets, they discard the winning one, someone picks that one out of the trash or wherever and cashes it.
Would these two have a case in telling the court that the ticket they threw away was found and cashed by this person?- the answer would be, " if you did not sign the back of the ticket, you lose!"
There is nothing in this story that tells us whether they signed the back of the ticket or not, in any event " they up a creek without a paddle"
The funny thing is I've almost done this at least once. You look at the website soon after the draw and because losing is so common, you quickly look at the results and see the ticket is a loser and toss it. But I'm never in a hurry to toss my tickets. I gotta recheck them a few days later
These NJ friends will not win the case especially because it's a game run by MUSL. Had it been a state game they might have had a small chance.
No ticket, no payout. What do people think? How can you collect on assumptions and no winning ticket to show?
People are crazy and will try anything. What does ticket order have to do with anything?
Nice try guys but if you did not check the winning tickets with another retailer or at a latter time and threw out the winning ticket, you lose.
Pedro Q who won the Powerball in March 2013 proves the streets here are sometimes paved with gold.
Yikes, they have the losing tickets?
Onyango owes Cambria a half million but Cambria doesn't deserve it, he should have checked the tix. himself.
Jersey can tell these guys to go jam it !
It's true that Jersey can be slow to update their site, everyone that uses the site knows that,
but the dates are there and plain to see.
In any case I hope the c-store gets their prize for selling the winner, don't try and weasel outta that JERSEY !
They must be suffering in Suffern!
I find it funny that they only tossed one ticket not all three and it just happens to be the "winning ticket".
Hey you never know though, they might win their case. lol
But let's say hypothetically they do win. How much money are they going to get after attorney fees, taxes and splitting the win amongst the both of them? Probably not a lot. So this should probably be a lesson to them to not toss their tickets in the garbage before they actually take the time to check them.
On March 23, 2013, Onyango bought three tickets, keeping two for himself and turning over a third to Cambria. The friends say they can prove the ticket that went to Cambria is the winning one because it was the middle ticket of three they purchased that day. Onyango kept the other two tickets, which include their serial numbers.
The story doesn't mention a 5 + 0 winning ticket that wasn't validated, but if there is one, the lottery knows exactly when and where it was bought. Without one, the two men are wasting their time, but if an unclaimed ticket was sold in the same store at the same time Onyango bought three tickets, they have the beginnings of a case.
No Ticket, No Money: Remember willis willis. I hold on to tickets,until the next day. To make sure if they are winners or not.
They still don't have the beginnings of a case because the clinchers are:
1. They didn't have the sense to check the date of the numbers on the website. Unless they can prove there's a law that the lottery websites are required to update the numbers within a certain timeframe they have no case. And as long as the date of the draw of the numbers posted is there, they can't blame anyone but themselves.
2. It's their responsibility to keep, and present, a signed ticket to the lottery commission. They weren't scammed. They weren't robbed at gunpoint. A fire didn't break out and incinerate the ticket. They opted to throw the ticket away.
3. They also had the option to double check the numbers directly on the MM website. They didn't.
Pretty soon you're going to have people suing for money on tickets they lost or allowed to expired if this is ever allowed to go forward.
This story is not found on the Jersey lottery website, wonder why ? LMAO
WOW you had a $1 million dollar ticket in your hand
You know this story is probably true my mom threw away a pb ticket last year and she won $1 million dollars on the ticket.
The lottery office can look at video and clearly see you on the video, however if you don't produce the ticket you don't get the money.
We tore up the house looking for the ticket but she knew she threw it away some people just don't check their tickets
These two guys from New York claim New Jersey had such a ticket that went unclaimed and they want NJ to prove they didn't. Since they are both from NY I wonder why they didn't check the NY website too since both states sell PB. Their problem isn't for NJ to prove no such ticket exits but to prove they brought it. Tickets go unclaimed all the time but states have no obligation to give the prize to any one with a good story.
They may have a beginnings of a case Stack- which l may add is going nowhere fast.
Unless there has been an incident in the past where a lottery Commission paid out a large sum of money " without a ticket"- these guys are chasing smoke. If they did win, it opens up a can of worms.