We all are aware of how popular scratch cards are but the following story involves three women, a trash bin and an intriguing legal battle over a simple scratchcard.
The star of this intriguing three way legal plot is a £1 million lottery ticket which was thrown away in the trash.
The first owner of the $20 Diamond Dazzler scratch card was a Sharon Duncan from Arkansas. She was the original owner of the million dollar scratchcard. After being told by the machine that the ticket was not a winning ticket she threw out the ticket in the trash at a gas station.
Here is where the second contender to the scratchcard comes in. She is Sharon Jones who makes a habit of picking up discarded tickets as the lottery commission website has a program where people can gain prizes for registering non-winning tickets.
When Jones attempted to enter the ticket’s details, she was given an error message by the machine and this is where she realized that not all the numbers on the controversial scratchcard had been scratched off.
In an interview with ABC, Jones’ Attorney stated that the discarded scratch card ticket was not only not a worthless ticket but was in fact a million dollar winning scratch ticket.
Jones was quick to collect her winnings of $680,000 but the plot thickens after surveillance footage in the gas station showed that she had actually taken the ticket out of a bin.
This is where the third contender to the million dollar ticket comes in the story. Lisa Petriches. The store manger claimed that she placed a sign on the bin stating “Do Not Take” as she had an agreement with the gas station manager in which she was allowed to keep any discarded scratch tickets. After a month went by that Jones had already collected her winnings, Petriches filed a lawsuit claiming that the original winning scratchcard ticket was indeed hers.
Jones’ attorney claims that the property was abandoned and it is simply wishful thinking on Petriches part to think that she could get a share of the profits.
At this point Sharon Duncan the first scratch card ticket buyer has come forward claiming that she is the first buyer of the original ticket.
Jones and Petriches have since appeared in court where the judge has dismissed the case as Sharon Duncan was not present. According to Judge Thomas Hughes since one of the material parties was not present it could very well be that none of the present parties are entitled to the winning scratchcard ticket winnings.
As it stands now the infamous million dollar scratch card still remains without a legal owner as the winnings have been frozen until the courts decide on the fate of the vexed scratchcard.