What could go wrong with winning a $1 million Lottery scratch card? Well for Ramon Ortiz an illegal immigrant his $20 Maryland Lottery scratch card is now the subject of a law suit. Ortiz from Guatemala purchased his ticket two years ago but was unable to collect the $450,000 payout because he has no social security number. According to the rules on Maryland’s website one has to prove one’s identity with a social security number.
Ortiz asked a colleague Rosa Lopez to cash in the ticket in order for him to get the jackpot. Lopez however got greedy and took the cash winning for herself .Lopez is now being sued in the Maryland courts. Ortiz claimed that he trusted Lopez to give him his jackpot winnings from the $20 scratch card as a former colleague did the same trick a couple of years ago and the person handed over all the cash.
A Maryland Lottery spokesperson Carole Everett was quoted as saying,” ‘If the person does not have any documentation, I believe the person can still claim the prize. ‘But the Lottery taxes the player’s prize winnings at the highest tax rate allowed by law for both federal and state taxes.”
It seems that Ortiz may well get the chance to collect his winnings and send the money to his wife and four children in Guatemala as he originally intended to do.