Emily Leach, who won a million-dollar jackpot in California last January, said she is hoping to fight the state lottery's decision stopping her from collecting a second jackpot of $260,000 — winnings that came from a ticket Leach has famously claimed she accidentally gave away to a stranger in March.
(See Generous former lottery winner says she accidentally gave away second winning ticket, Lottery Post, Mar. 27, 2012.)
A lottery official informed her that "we gave the check to the man" in June, Leach told ABC News. Leach said she has asked a lawyer to explore her options.
A California Lottery spokesman confirmed to ABC News that Leach would not receive the $260,000 jackpot, a decision reached after an "extensive investigation" by the California Lottery's security and law enforcement division.
"We feel very confident that the person who claimed the ticket is the rightful owner of the ticket and that is not Emily Leach," said Russ Lopez, the California Lottery's deputy director of communications.
These days, Leach, 31, is living with her mother in Reno, Nevada after being kicked out of her California home. (She said the landlord evicted her after deciding he could charge a higher rent to new tenants.)
"Right now, I'm just trying to hold on to every penny," she said.
Leach said she has to stay thrifty because of her ailing health. She used part of her January winnings to pay off $300,000 in medical bills she ran up after a ruptured spleen and a life-threatening bout with pancreatitis a couple of years earlier. Leach said she still has large bills for medication she must take.
It doesn't help, Leach says, that she doesn't have a real job anymore.
She said she was put on unpaid leave from her job at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System after her first lotto win because coworkers complained that there were threats made against her after her win, and they made for an unsafe work environment. She said she was later informed that she would be terminated at the end of her leave this month.
A hospital spokesman confirmed that Leach is currently an employee but said he could not provide additional information without written consent from Leach.
Leach made headlines for the lotto ticket dispute in March, after she said she accidentally gave a winning scratch-off ticket to a man who was begging her for help at a Mountain View, Calif. convenience store. She alleged that the man pressured her and took advantage of her.
Leach claims that she meant just to give the man money but instead, gave him cash and a lottery ticket — the winning lottery ticket, she later learned — while she was distracted by a phone call from her doctor.
"I will be the first to admit I got flustered. I shouldn't have been doing so many things at once," she told "20/20" in March. "But I was just trying to help the guy."
But the California Lottery's Lopez said that surveillance footage from the convenience store shows Leach willingly giving a man her ticket. An account of the incident given by the man claiming the ticket, Lopez said, was corroborated by the cashier who sold it.
"There was no coercion," Lopez said. "It was an act of kindness that unfortunately got messy when the numbers were drawn."
Lopez said the man who claimed the prize money has asked not to be identified.
Leach said that, for now, she's trying to avoid stress that will hurt her health. She is also working on a book about her life.
She needs to move on already! They did an extensive investigation and she lost. Try to it the jackpot again.
The book deal she's trying to write should be entitled "How To Not Become An Idiot".
Hey Nikkicute.
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Thanks
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It's nice!
Her lawyers must be very happy that she is not a quiter. Lawyers hate quiters
That lady just needs to start playing again!! She already won twice (although she gave away
the second win), I bet she'll win again! And win a big one!! Why not?
Emily, let this man enjoy his lottery monies. Multi-tasking is not good to you, so refrain from it, it burns more frequently than it provides relief.
Instead, turn your lawyer's attention towards keeping your job at the VA for you, and insisting upon your paid return [don't ask for a raise or cost-of-living-increase] to working again this quarter! But, try to stay calm and vital; getting ill again would ruin that strong strategic plan and take monies from your, remaining apx. $355K, lottery jackpot windfall.
Emily, stick to a budget of $45/month and you can keep playing/gambling in a couple of lottery games weekly. You've done well for yourself so far and as the saying goes, 'The third time [win] is a charm.'
This is getting old time to move & buy another lottery ticket....
When the store owner/clerk says she basically buys tickets and gives them away, and there's video of her doing it with the winning ticket, how much more evidence would anyone need?
This lady needs to be grateful for what she has and get a life.
The first mistake was giving away lottery tickets and the second mistake is trying to fight for it your lawyer won't give you the right advice because he wants you to keep paying him too. Its sad but onething about life is that just because you nice to this guy doesn't mean he will be nice to you . And now he wants to have his privacy if you invested in your privacy they won't bother you so my suggestion to you is just get out of town and start a new simple life somewhere far away. Goodluck you could win again and again.
I think that's a poor choice of words. She has trouble enough with the life she has; getting a new or another one isn't always so easy, even with money.
Emily could have signed the back of that Mega Millions lottery ticket and gave it to that man with the premise that if he won a big jackpot,she would get half.Now,as it stands,she gets nothing.Emily has learned her lesson.
larry3100,
post more, this is easily the best reply so far.
She's full of it, congrats to the lucky winner.
Yes, but she needs to buy a ticket in california to win, since it seems the big jackpots are often won in that state.
You mean they actually charge you money for those lotto tickets?
What a rip off!
Did you just mean she needed to buy a ticket to win or buying a ticket in California gave her a better chance at winning the jackpot of a multi-state game?
Yes, buying a ticket in california gave her a better chance at winning.
Ohioans are lucky too, they were winning PowerBall and BigGame jackpots even before they came to Ohio and they had to go out of state to play them.
You dont need luck in cali. just a ticket.
Your sure your not plagiarizing one of Thrifty's signatures.
Oh yes, in cali all tickets have a 50/50 chance of winning the jackpot.
Don't get Thrifty going Ronnie316!!!
They win so often in cali that it could be Thriftys poster state.
I feel so sad about what happened to Ms. Leach. If she mistakenly gave away her winning lottery ticket to another person, and that person claimed the winnings, then I believe that she doesn't have the right to re-claim it. I always believe that you are responsible for your own decisions and actions, and her action of giving the ticket to another person means that she already acknowledged the other person's right to the ticket.
Poor Ms. Leach that she suffered from a lot of trials in life from renting issues, life threat and her health. But still she is a lucky girl to win a lottery jackpot before. I know that God will enlighten her mind and the minds of the California Lottery about this matter.