CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte woman is suing after she claims her girlfriend stole her winning lottery ticket and claimed it for herself.
“So, the winning ticket is worth either $25,000 a year for life or $500,000 cash value,” Trey Lindley, the attorney for Jasmine Watkins, told Channel 9 -- no small chunk of change. “My client purchased a winning lottery ticket, a Lucky for Life lottery ticket.”
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He said Watkins hasn’t gotten her winnings.
In her lawsuit, Watkins claims she bought several lottery tickets from a Matthews convenience store and used the small winnings to purchase the ticket in question.
The suit also claims there's surveillance video of her buying it.
Watkins says she gave the tickets to her girlfriend to hold and when they realized she won, they made plans to go to Raleigh together to claim her prize.
But in the suit, Watkins says her now ex-girlfriend just took her ticket, went to Raleigh and claimed the prize for herself.
“Was there ever any discussion that they were going to split the money?” Eyewitness News reporter Elsa Gillis asked.
“No, and that’s what’s gonna be critical in this lawsuit,” Lindley said.
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Channel 9 reached out to the North Carolina Education Lottery Commission, which is named in the suit.
A representative said the commission received a claim for a winning Lucky for Life ticket and "the claim was under review when the lottery learned there was a legal dispute over who the owner of the winning ticket is."
The representative said the commission will follow the court's direction and has not yet given out those winnings.
Channel 9 was not able to get in touch with the woman being sued or an attorney representing her.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was at the store when Watkins bought the ticket, and they both bought other lottery tickets that day.
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