Well, she tried.
And maybe you can’t blame her.
But a state Superior Court ruled Tuesday that Beverlie Seltzer, an employee at an Acme store in Doylestown, cannot keep a winning $4.15 million lottery ticket because it rightfully belongs to her store, not her.
As explained in a PennLive article, the winning Match 6 ticket was what’s considered a mistake ticket printed by the store. The store must pay the lottery commission for its mistake tickets. But the store can also keep any winnings that they produce.
Winning ticket was a mistake print in March 2019
In Seltzer’s case, she discovered the winning $4.15 million ticket in the mistake pile when she reported to work on March 21, 2019. Seltzer took $10 from her purse to purchase the winning ticket instead of following the typical procedure, which would have allowed the store to claim the winnings. The store’s security footage confirmed Seltzer’s maneuver.
Seltzer eventually tried to claim the winning ticket. She later appealed to the Superior Court after a Bucks County ruling found that the winnings belonged to the store.
On Tuesday, the Superior Court reached the same verdict.
“When Ms. Seltzer in this instance deviated from the Acme procedures that she usually followed, she acted surreptitiously and was not forthcoming about the circumstances of the purchase,” Judge Mary Jane Bowes wrote in the state court’s opinion. “Even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Ms. Seltzer, no reasonable fact-finder could conclude that Ms. Seltzer acted with the good faith belief that she was permitted by law or by Acme’s policies to give Acme $10 in exchange for $4,150,000.”
Powerball, Mega Millions produces verified November winners
Fortunately, not every winning ticket devolves into chaos and controversy like Seltzer’s did. In November, a player named Mark from Allegheny County took home a million dollars in a Powerball drawing. Additionally, five other players from locations all across Pennsylvania won $50,000 prizes.
In Mega Millions drawings, three Pennsylvania players won $10,000 prizes in November.
Holiday jackpots will bring Christmas cheer and lots of cash
And as noted by PlayPennsylvania, the Mega Millions and Powerball drawings from this past weekend were set to provide a massive Christmas bonus if someone happened to purchase a winning ticket.
The Powerball jackpot on Saturday was up to $304 million, with a cash value of $236 million. Friday’s Mega Millions drawing was estimated at $310 million, with a cash value of $238 million.
In a handful of states, including Pennsylvania, draw lottery tickets are available for purchase online. There, notifications of winning tickets are automatic.
And the beauty of the multistate, massive jackpot lotteries is that someone will eventually win.
That’s what drives people to purchase tickets. And that’s what drove Beverlie Seltzer to step outside of bounds at her Acme store.
The reward often seems worth the risk.
Lead image via Dreamstime.