A legal dispute between Circle K and a former manager over a $12.8 million winning lottery ticket has become even more complicated after a second convenience store employee came forward claiming a share of the jackpot.
Here’s Some Important Context
The issue began in November of last year when a customer visited a Circle K store in Scottsdale, Arizona. The customer asked the clerk to print multiple tickets for “The Pick,” a state lottery game in which players try to match six numbers in a drawing held later that evening.
The clerk printed $85 worth of $1 tickets, but the customer had only $60, leaving 25 tickets unpaid and on the counter. The tickets stayed in the store overnight, and one of them turned out to be a winner of a $12.8 million jackpot.
Robert Gawlitza, the store manager, learned the following morning that a jackpot-winning ticket had been printed but not sold. He then allegedly took off his Circle K uniform and purchased the remaining tickets, including the winning one, from another employee for $10.
Circle K management learned of the transaction shortly afterward and instructed that the ticket be held at the company’s corporate headquarters. The company also filed a lawsuit against Gawlitza, which has been going on for months now and has recently become more complicated as another Circle K employee claims she is entitled to a share of the jackpot.
A New Employee Claims a Part of the Prize Money
Marline Ybarra, the employee in question, claims she is entitled to a portion of the jackpot because Gawlitza asked her to sign the back of the winning ticket. Ybarra was added as a defendant in an amended complaint filed last week. She also alleges that some of the tickets had fallen behind the printer and that she retrieved them, according to court filings. Gawlitza and Ybarra are represented by the same attorney, though it is unclear from the filing whether they have agreed to divide the winnings.
Circle K claims that under the Arizona Administrative Code, lottery retailers retain ownership of tickets that are left unpaid and never officially sold to customers. The company is asking the court to decide whether the ticket was validly purchased, who legally owns it, and who is entitled to the $12.8 million jackpot.
Interestingly, Anna Kim, the original customer who purchased the other tickets, is currently not a party in the case. It is also unclear if she intends to get involved in the case and fight for the prize money.