Circle K Manager Sued in Arizona over $12.8M Lottery Ticket

Circle K is suing an employee, one Robert Gawlitza, who bought a ticket left on the counter of his shop, only to find out that he had won a $12.8-million prize pool. 

Working at a convenience store in Scottsdale, the employee was servicing a client who had asked to replay his numbers for The Pick drawing on the evening of Monday, November 24. 

Store Employee Allegedly Bought the Winning Ticket After a Client Had Abandoned It

The complaint argues that Gawlitza was asked by the customer to print 85 $1 tickets, but he ended up paying only $60, enough for 60, with 25 tickets remaining unpaid. 

The tickets remained in the store throughout the night, when Gawlitza is alleged to have found out that his store had sold the winning ticket for the Monday drawing. 

At this point, the lawsuit alleges that Gawlitza went on to scan every single ticket until he found the winning one from the abandoned tickets, producing the winning numbers 3, 13, 14, 15, 19, and 26.

Aware of this detail, Gawlitza turned in for the day, removed his work attire, and bought the tickets, including the winning one for $10 in total. Circle K found out about the purchase soon after, and ordered the ticket to be held in its corporate office until a judge ruled on who should legally claim the $12.8-million ticket. 

The Lottery Just Wants to Pay Out and None of the Drama 

Essentially, the lawsuit alleges that the company should have the property over unsold tickets and tickets that customers refuse to pay for. For its part, the lottery has described the situation as “unique” and argued that this was a precedent and the lottery had no experience with such cases. 

What the lottery does know is that whoever gets custody of the ticket would have until May 23, 2026, to claim the reward, which is the customary 180-day period granted to winners to scoop the prize.