DES MOINES, Iowa — A Des Moines, Iowa, man is facing a charge of underage gambling after he collected a $100,000 Iowa Lottery prize this summer.
Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says 20-year-old Jobie Boals-Watters brought the winning Mega Crossword instant scratch game ticket to lottery headquarters in Clive on July 30.
"At the time, he provided us with information and everything seemed to be on the up and up and the prize was claimed," Neubauer said.
While it's illegal for someone under 21 to purchase an Iowa Lottery ticket, a person under 21 can claim a prize if the ticket was purchased legally by someone who is of age. Boals-Watters claimed a co-worker bought his ticket. A few days after he claimed the prize, an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers led the Iowa Lottery to further investigate Boals-Watters' story.
"One of the things we did was pull the security camera footage from the store when the ticket was purchased and indeed, we determined that Jobie Boals-Watters had been the one who purchased the winning ticket," Neubauer said. "He was only 20 at the time, which meant the purchase was not legal, which meant the winning ticket was invalid." Boals-Watter has pleaded not guilty to the charge of underage gambling. A hearing in the case is scheduled for January 13 in Polk County District Court.
The investigators said there were no signs of an office pool for tickets, and the suspect later admitted he spends hundreds of dollars a week buying lottery tickets, officials said.
"The law is in place for a reason. We need to make sure the law is being followed," Neubauer said.
"The lottery will be seeking to have the prize money returned to us through the legal process," Neubauer said. Boals-Watters stood to collect $70,000 after taxes. The ticket was purchased at Super Quick Foods on Southeast 30th Street in Des Moines. That store is now facing a suspension from the Iowa Lottery for failing to ID Boals-Watters when he allegedly bought the ticket.
"Under the lottery's administrative rules, a store's license to sell lottery products will be suspended for one week for a first time violation of an underage sale," Neubauer said. According to Neubauer, underage violations relating to lottery products are relatively rare in Iowa.
"This is an unusual case. The good news is that underage violations are few and far between here in Iowa," Neubauer said. "We think that we have a retail environment that functions really well and, by and large, our retailers do a good job of checking IDs and making sure they're complying with the law."
In 2015, there have been two documented occurrences of underage purchase of Iowa Lottery tickets. There were no documented cases in 2014, one in 2013, one in 2012, and one in 2011.
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If he was legal enough to cash it in, he should be able to purchase it also. Make the age 18 yrs and older!!!
GIVE THE GUY HIS MONEY.
Stupid Laws make for stupid situations like this one
RIDICULOUS.
Legalism is one pathetic way of living!
12/24/15
He's not old enough to collect his prize because he was 20 at the time of purchase but could have collected if someone else who was 21 bought the ticket
Iowa a little backwards on this issue?
In NJ you have to be 18 years old to play.
Who made the anonymous tip? Some jealous friend?
Hes most likely out on his own making his own living.I come to hate these lotteries..So crooked and they always have an excuse for doing whats right...
Does Iowa keep the $ ?
Greedy a-holes !
Tip to crime stoppers = waste of resources, as Raven62 said "jealous friend ? some friend...tell no one !
As Gleno said make it 18 !
If he's old enough to vote, or fight for his Country, he's old enough to buy and redeem Lotto tickets..
These laws should be symmetrical across the united States, and not up for some states. Iowa, get with the program....!!
Exactly what I was thinking. Guy can go to war and get his a$$ shot up but he's too young to buy a lottery ticket?
That's stupid worthless politicians making up those rules.
If he's old enough to vote, or fight for his Country, he's old enough to buy and redeem Lotto tickets..
While I totally agree with you on the substance of what you said, the fact is that the law is the law is the law in the state of Iowa.
He is under age to redeem a lottery ticket in the state of Iowa.
The idiots in the state legislature needs to change the law, or better yet I should say the idiots in the state should have their state legislators change the law to drop the legal age to purchase and or redeem a lottery ticket from 21 to 18.
~Michael
Does Iowa not have the vending machines yet? Cuz it would be impossible to hold a store responsible for who buys out of those.
I often see LITTLE kids buying from the vending machines here. I actually cut in front of one because it just didn't dawn on me that an 8 year old would be buying tickets, I thought she was just waiting for Mom or something. I'm pretty sure there's an age limit here but it's obviously not enforced.
Give the guy his money plz!!! How old does he have to be to consent to sex? How old does he have
to be to vote? how old does he have to be to go to prison or something as noble as war war?
Yet he cant collect his $100,000 winnings at 20 yrs of age? Hope the judge sees this for what it
really is.
Clint
Nothing less than a Money Grab on the lottery's part. Give the guy his money and send a clear message to others who may try this in the future. A strict warning should do the trick.
You can join the military but can't purchase a lottery ticket before you are 21? So much wrong with that kind of thinking.
While it's illegal for someone under 21 to purchase an Iowa Lottery ticket,--isn't it then illegal for the retailer to sell a lottery ticket to someone under 21? Did they check to see if he was 21 before the sale? Is the retailer going to be prosecuted for under-age sale?
You have to be 21 or older to buy and consume alcohol. In most States.
You have to be 21 or older to buy lottery games in Iowa.
We do not want drunken minors scratching their tickets while driving down the street.
HO HO HO
We do not want drunken minors scratching their tickets while driving down the street.
Bah Humbug to that lottery.
You can buy lottery tickets in SC at 18.
This is a god<snip> joke, right? What kind of psycho state makes it so that you have to be 21 to win the lottery? I hope some big attorney takes this case pro-bono and sues the state of Iowa in the Stone Age and uses this as a test case and takes it as high in the court as it can go. Like others said, if you are old enough to go to war and die then you should definitely be old enough to collect on the money that you won fair and square.
Old enough to slop the hawgs, old enough to gamble.
In the UK you can participate from the age of 16!
'Lottery tickets and scratch cards may be bought only by people of at least 16 years of age.'
Let's see... He's old enough to drive, vote, get married and have kids. He's old enough to serve on a jury, and join the military and die for his country... But he's not old enough to buy a lottery ticket. (Or buy a beer). What kind ass backwards thinking is that? Unbelievable!!!
silence is golden. silly boy forgot that .
Someone who wasn't getting their fair share.
I agree with you!
if our Kids are old enough to serve this country in a War,why cant they Dream big playing the lottery?
Anyone from Iowa? Do you have Instant Vending Machines?
I hope he keeps what he won. They - the lottery - will now be seeking reimbursement of the winnings he filed for in July
and was paid....what?...6 weeks later? So, he got the winnings and like anyone else probably spent into them thinking
it was his money. WHICH, rightfully, it should be.
Maybe Iowa should reimburse him everything he spent?
The rules don't count unless it affects them.
It's okay to lose but not okay to win.
I hope they give the guy a fine for underage gambling but also hope the judge lets him keep the money.
IKR, over there at 16 there's a lot of things they can do at that age that is only allowed for young people here in the states at 18. Even the drinking age over there is lower in UK and I think a 16 year old have to be with someone older like 18/19 to drink in pubs. That's what I recalled back in the 1990s. I agree with whoever said that all laws should be the same in every states. What's the point of them saying they're part of the country when their laws are not on the same levels for everybody.
Lotteries still playing their stupid silly games.
Doesn't sound like it this time, mypiemaster! Instead, it appears that the person -- who HATES this senior teenager and the store -- decided to go to authorities to make a legal statement. Much to the chagrin of the local law enforcement, state law enforcement, possibly federal law enforcement, and state lottery headquarters (who's database had already paid out; program not flagging the age minimum on the claim form). Regardless, a massive shame that this senior teenager didn't have a family member who cared AND had taken the time to read the back of his ticket with a magnifying glass ... offering to work something out on claim form (to cover taxes and perhaps extra 10%), with the teen jackpot winner who used hundreds $$$ weekly from his own income ... working a tedius and thankless job!
A sad Christmas story, a huge lump of coal received!
They have the dumbest rule I've ever seen. I assume the rule is also for mm/pb where most States are 18.
How old does a person have to be to purchase an Iowa Lottery ticket?
A player must be 21 years of age or older to purchase lottery tickets in Iowa. It is legal for those under 21 to play lottery games and claim prizes, however a parent or guardian must also sign the ticket and/or claim form for any claimant who is a minor.