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Ohio Lottery sued over $11.1 million jackpot ticket
YOUNGSTOWN
A Beloit man has sued the Ohio Lottery Commission in the Ohio Court of Claims in Columbus, saying he won a December 2014 Classic Lotto jackpot of $11.1 million.
He is asking the court of claims to issue a temporary order barring the commission from paying or voiding the winning ticket, which he said was surreptitiously commandeered by someone else.
Jason Firestone, of Beloit-Snodes Road, said he learned Dec. 31 the winning ticket in the Dec. 27 drawing was purchased at Shell Food Mart, 988 E. Western Reserve Road, Boardman, and he noticed the winning numbers were the ones he had played at that location.
Firestone said, however, he was unable to find the winning ticket, and he has asked the commission to neither pay nor void the ticket until any holder is found and the dispute is settled.
Firestone sued Friday after he said the store manager and a commission representative told him his image did not appear on the store surveillance video at the time the ticket was purchased.
Firestone filed an identical civil lawsuit Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against the unknown John or Jane Doe likely ticket holder. That suit is assigned to Judge Lou A. D’Apolito.
Firestone is represented by Attys. James S. Gentile and Rhys B. Cartwright-Jones of Youngstown.
Laura Hilbon, Shell Food Mart manager, declined to comment on the matter.
Danielle Frizzi-Babb, communications director for the commission, also declined to comment on the lawsuit.
She urged lottery players, however, to check their tickets before leaving the point of purchase to ascertain that they have played the proper game and have the correct numbers and to store lottery tickets in a secure place.
“You need the ticket to make the claim” for a prize, she said.