An American thinks he won $340 million in the lottery before discovering a display “error.”

An American believed for days that he had won $340 million in the lottery, before discovering that a lottery site had displayed the wrong winning numbers.

false hope An American man thought he had won $340 million in the lottery after the game’s website mistakenly displayed the numbers he had played. The player filed a lottery claim last November. In an interview with NBC Washington on February 15 he is now trying to make himself heard to win his case.

“I was excited.”

Washington DC resident John Cheeks buys a Powerball lottery ticket on January 6, 2023 and decides to play on his family members’ birthdays, he tells the New York Post. Two days later, he went to the game’s website and saw his numbers displayed.

“I was a little excited, but I didn’t scream. I just politely called a friend and took a photo, like he advised me to do,” he told NBC Washington.

Happy and calm, he goes to bed, sure to have hit the jackpot. He confirmed that for two whole days, his numbers were shown as winning on the Powerball site.

Not the right numbers

On January 10, 2023, John Cheeks went to the Lottery and Gaming Office to claim his winnings, but was denied. This is where he discovers that the numbers drawn do not match the numbers he played.

“The numbers aren’t right. Throw your ticket in the trash,” a lottery office employee tells him simply.

But there is no question of John Gall getting rid of his ticket. Instead, he chose to play it safe and decided to sue the Powerball Lottery, the Multi-State Lottery Association and gaming entrepreneur Taoti Enterprises last November. The case is still ongoing.

The player wants justice

The Lottery acknowledges to the player that they posted their numbers on its site as winning numbers, even though they were not randomly drawn numbers.

“They said one of his contract workers made a mistake. But I haven’t seen any evidence to support that yet,” said the unhappy player.

“Even if a mistake has been made, the question is: what do you do about it? There is an example, a similar case happened in Avao, where a mistake was accepted by an entrepreneur and where (winnings were paid out to disappointed players)” , argues John Gall’s lawyer.

Last November, the Iowa Lottery in the United States posted false winning numbers. She then mentions “human error” and assures that the holders of these numbers will be able to keep their winnings. However, they are all between $4 and $200, a far cry from the $340 million that John Cheeks thought he had won.