An Arizona convenience store employee is at the center of a legal battle over a $12.8 million lottery jackpot after he allegedly bought a winning ticket left by a customer.
According to a complaint filed Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court and cited by 12News, Robert Gawlitza, manager of a Circle K store in Scottsdale, was working Nov. 24 when a customer asked to play the numbers for “The Pick” drawing that evening.
The complaint alleges that a store employee printed $85 worth of tickets for $1, but the customer only paid $60, leaving 25 $25 tickets on the counter. The tickets remained in the store overnight and untouched until the next morning.
After learning that his store had sold a jackpot-winning ticket, Gawlitza allegedly scanned the abandoned tickets and identified the winner. The numbers drawn were 3, 13, 14, 15, 19 and 26.
According to court filings cited by local media, Gawlitza then left his shift, took off his Circle K uniform shirt and bought the remaining tickets — including the winning one — from another employee for $10.
Circle K management was notified of the purchase and ordered that the ticket be secured at the company’s office pending a court determination of ownership of the prize.
In his complaint against Gawlitz and the Arizona Lottery Circle K, he cited the Arizona Administrative Code, which states that retailers can have property claims on tickets that a customer refuses to pay for and that go unsold. The company did not specifically claim ownership of the jackpot, but asked the court to determine the rightful owner among competing claims.
The $12.8 million prize is the fourth largest “The Pick” jackpot sold in Arizona and the largest since 2019. The winner has 180 days from the drawing date – until May 23 – to claim the prize.
