Skip to content
Advertisement

Mystery surrounds lottery ticket

Advertisement
 (107312)

A Palmdale gas station has been placed under investigation after a lottery ticket that should have returned a $75,000 reward to its holder—actually a state lottery inspector—only paid $75 in cash, officials said this week.

The Chevron station on Sierra Highway at East Avenue S released surveillance video of the purported winner on May 3 in an effort to identify the man and reward him with his rightful earnings, the station’s manager said. Various Los Angeles-area news outlets ran the story, reporting that the gas station was attempting to find the $75,000 “winner.” But the video actually shows an undercover investigator from the California Lottery on an inspection stop.

Russell Lopez, a spokesperson for the California Lottery, said this week that there is “no winner.”

“Since the store held onto the ticket, it appears the ticket was mishandled,” Lopez said. “We are currently investigating this case.”

Taken from behind the register, the video shows a man in a brown short-sleeved shirt and a backwards baseball cap waiting as the clerk examines the ticket and hands over cash. The interaction, which appears to take a few minutes, occurred on March 25.

The California State Lottery Act requires year-round compliance checks “to protect our business, our players, and yes, our retailers,” Lopez said. He said that compliance with the checks is “98 percent,” adding that almost all retailers “act with integrity and honesty.”

The man had turned in a ticket for the top prize in the Wild West Poker Scratchers game. Players have a one-in-1,196,120 chance of winning the $75,000 prize.

Advertisement

Latest