Man loses winning lottery ticket worth nearly $200 million

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A Mega Millions winner claims he purchased both jackpot-winning tickets from an Encino gas station in December 2023, though he lost one of the tickets worth $197.5 million.

Faramarz Lahijani, who collected his portion of the $394 million prize in June, recently filed a lawsuit against the California Lottery asserting ownership of the unclaimed winning ticket.

Mega Millions jackpot winner claims he purchased both $394M prize tickets — but lost second one as he sues California lottery https://t.co/z1iXZGiBQF pic.twitter.com/XVZRvfdK6E

— New York Post (@nypost) December 11, 2024

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Just before the December 7 deadline, Lahijani submitted a breach of contract suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, maintaining his right to the outstanding prize money.

According to court documents obtained by the Patch, Lahijani asserts that having submitted the first matching ticket entitles him to the entire jackpot amount.

He states that his children selected the winning combination – 21, 26, 53, 66, 70, and gold Mega Ball 13 – numbers he claims to have used for many years.

The case remains ongoing after Lahijani filed his claim with state authorities on December 4.

When Lahijani initially claimed his prize in June, he chose not to make public comments. At that time, lottery officials discussed various scenarios that could explain identical winning tickets purchased at one location.

A Mega Millions winner has filed a lawsuit after he says he bought two winning jackpot tickets but lost the second.

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— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) December 11, 2024

“While this is incredibly unusual and interesting, it’s not unheard of,” said Carolyn Becker, California Lottery spokesperson. “There are any number of explanations; perhaps one person wanted to try their luck on two different rows for whatever reason, or maybe a couple of buddies wanted to try their chances with the same exact numbers. We won’t know exactly how this happened until the prize is claimed.”

The Encino Chevron station made lottery history, receiving California’s largest retailer bonus of $1.975 million – $987,500 for each winning ticket sold.

Meanwhile, Friday’s Mega Millions drawing offers a $670 million prize after Tuesday’s numbers – 12, 14, 26, 48, 52 and gold Mega Ball 21 – yielded no jackpot winner.