From the wtf? files.
Guy buys lotto ticket that is a $1 million dollar winner. Not realizing this, goes to the store he bought it from and asks the clerk to scan it. Clever clerk does so, realizes this is the $1 million winner and tells the guy it's only worth a few bucks.

The clerk then goes to the lotto office and claims the prize, which came to about $750k after taxes. Then flees to Nepal. The Texas lotto, despite the fact that the guy who stole it has been indicted and is being sought on charges, has declared that the thief is the rightful winner.

What a mess.



A Texas county has indicted a store clerk for allegedly stealing a winning $1 million lottery ticket, but the state lottery commission tells the original buyer that it considers the clerk to be the winner and won't pay up, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Commission officials told Willis Willis, 67, of Grand Prairie, Tex., that they consider the clerk, Pankaj Joshi, the rightful winner because Joshi signed and redeemed the ticket as required, Willis' attorney says.

But Joshi has been indicted in Travis County on charges of claiming a lottery prize by fraud. Prosecutors hope to give Willis about $365,000 they seized from Joshi's bank accounts, the paper says.

Joshi, clerk at the store where Willis bought the ticket in May, didn't let on that it was the big winner when he scanned Willis' tickets two days later, authorities say.

Joshi later cashed it in, receiving $750,000 after taxes, and apparently returned to his native Nepal, the paper says.

A spokesman for the lottery commission declined to comment, the paper says.