A DC man thought he won a $340 million Powerball prize. But it turned out to be a website ‘mistake’

A D.C. man thought he won the lottery jackpot, but when he went to redeem the prize, he was informed there had been a mistake.

Joseph Cheeks has filed a lawsuit against the District, Powerball and additional government offices and affiliated companies, saying they have refused to pay him a $340 million prize after his numbers came up on the D.C. Lottery’s website last year.

Though Cheeks, who bought the ticket on Jan. 6, 2023, didn’t see the Jan. 7 drawing, when he pulled up the D.C. Lottery website in the early morning hours of Jan. 8, his numbers were displayed under “Winning Numbers.” The Powerball prize at that time was $340 million.

“I got a little excited, but I didn’t shout, I didn’t scream,” Cheeks told NBC Washington. “I just politely called a friend. I took a picture as he recommended, and that was it. I went to sleep.”

But when Cheeks went to redeem his winning ticket at a licensed retailer, he was denied his prize. Then, when he brought the ticket to the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming prize center, he was denied again.

What Cheeks didn’t know was the numbers posted on the D.C. Lottery website weren’t the same numbers as the ones from the Jan. 7 Powerball drawing.

Eventually, Cheeks was told that one of the lottery’s contractors, the D.C.-based Taoti Enterprises, made a ”mistake” and had posted the wrong numbers to the website. However, Cheeks’ numbers remained up on the D.C. Lottery website for three days, according to the lawsuit.

“They have said that one of their contractors made a mistake,” his attorney Richard Evans told NBC Washington. “Even if a mistake was made, the question becomes: What do you do about that? There is a precedent for this, a similar case that happened in Iowa, where a mistake was admitted by a contractor and they paid the winnings out.”

According to court documents, while Taoti Enterprises has admitted to mistakenly posting the wrong numbers, it has denied all other allegations. Taoti Enterprises has countered some of Cheeks’ claims, including alleging that “he purchased the alleged winning Powerball ticket using errant numbers mistakenly posted on the website in advance of the actual Powerball drawing.”

Cheeks is suing for breach of contract and negligence, among additional counts, claiming he is entitled to the entirety of the Powerball prize or to damages for the defendants’ gross negligence.

Taoti Enterprises declined to comment on an active legal matter.