California man sues lottery claiming he had two winning Mega Millions tickets – but only got half the money
Faramarz Lahijani claims he bought the two winning tickets at the Chevron gas station in Encino, Los Angeles, on December 8 2023
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Your support makes all the difference.A man is suing California Lottery claiming he won not one, but two Mega Millions lottery tickets.
Faramarz Lahijani filed a lawsuit with the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday accusing the organization of breaching its contract by only awarding him half of the $394 million winnings from a December 2023 draw, CBS News reported.
Lahijani claims he bought two tickets at the Chevron gas station in Encino, Los Angeles, on December 8 2023.
Both tickets had the same numbers – 21, 26, 53, 66, 70, and 13 — that he has been playing for three decades since they were first chosen by his children, he claims.
Those numbers were the six winning numbers for the $394 million Mega Millions jackpot draw that day – and there were two winning tickets.
In June 2024, Lahijani says he claimed his prize for one of the tickets, taking home the “first half” of his winnings.
But he had lost the second ticket and so could not claim the second half of the prize totaling $197.5 million, reported KTLA5.
On December 6, 2024 – hours before the jackpot was set to expire that evening – Lahijani filed the suit naming the California State Lottery Commission, the California Lottery, and the State of California as defendants. He also filed a claim with the state on December 4, reported The New York Post.
Lahijani claims he is the “sole winner” of the prize and that California Lottery is “unreasonably failing to honor” its contract.
“Plaintiff [Lahijani] has suffered financial hardship and emotional distress, including but not limited to, embarrassment, anxiety and mental anguish, all to his general damage in a sum in excess of $50,000.0,” the suit adds.
The Independent contacted the California Lottery for comment.
California Lottery spokesperson Carolyn Becker said in a statement to The Independent: “It would not be appropriate for the California Lottery to comment on an active lawsuit or any pending litigation to protect the integrity of the process involved.”
To win the Mega Millions jackpot, players are asked to pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers. The first pool consists of five numbers from 1 to 70 (the white balls) while the second pool involves picking one number from 1 to 25 (the gold Mega Ball) – or an “Easy Pick/Quick Pick”, as outlined on the Mega Millions website. Players who purchase a $2 ticket need to have a set of six numbers identical to the draw to win.
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