Who owns the $12.8M ticket? Scottsdale Circle K manager fired after buying winning lottery ticket
Scottsdale Circle K manager fights for lottery prize
A legal battle is brewing over a winning lottery ticket sold at a Circle K store in Scottsdale. The ticket is worth nearly $13 million, but questions remain over who has the right to all that money. FOX 10's Brian Webb has the details.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - A legal battle is brewing over a winning lottery ticket sold at a Circle K store in Scottsdale.
It's worth nearly $13 million, but who has the right to all that money? A customer who left the ticket behind, the manager who bought it, or the company where the ticket was sold?
The backstory:
The story starts in November of last year. A woman walks into a Circle K to buy $85 worth of lottery tickets. The tickets are printed out, but she only has $60 to pay for them. And that is where things get tricky.
This is where Robert Gawlitza enters the story.
"It really broke my heart. My father's name is tarnished. That's how I felt. Really, it hurt me," he said, appearing to fight back tears.
The former store manager says the extra tickets were up for grabs the next morning. That is when he realized one of them was a winner worth just shy of $13 million.
"When I try to clear my name with the company, it’s like I’m being thrown under the bus," Gawlitza said.
Robert Gawlitza
Dig deeper:
So Gawlitza is loading up legal ammunition from the employee handbook, sworn statements from several coworkers, and hiring attorney Josh Kolsrud.
"Their policy is to have Robert, the store manager, and the clerk that printed out the tickets purchase those unsold tickets," Kolsrud said.
Kolsrud says Gawlitza did exactly what he was trained to do: clock out, take off his official Circle K shirt, buy the ticket, sign it, and then clock back in. He even offered to split the winnings with the coworker who printed the tickets the night before.
"The first thing he does is he decides to split it with somebody, you know, like that’s not the action of somebody who has nefarious intentions," Kolsrud said.
The Circle K corporate office has possession of the winning ticket and claims the money belongs to the company. But the company and its legal team would not comment on the case.
"I was just following directions to what I was being told," Gawlitza said.
Arizona lottery ticket dispute: Court to decide ownership of $12.8M jackpot
An Arizona court will determine who gets a $12.8 million prize after a Circle K employee reportedly clocked out, took off his uniform, and bought a ticket with the winning numbers.
To add insult to all the intrigue, Gawlitza was fired in January after 20 years of service. And now his mission, other than getting the money, is to restore his family name.
"They raised me, you know, hard-working person and now that’s what I tried to do that day and unfortunately that’s not how I’m being portrayed and that’s what my main focus is," Gawlitza said.
A visit to the home of the woman who originally ordered the tickets went unanswered as no one came to the door.
What's next:
The money is still with the lottery office. And lottery officials say they will comply with the judge's orders over who finally gets the $12.8 million.