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A Mega Millions winner who had to split a $394 million jackpot claims he actually purchased both winning tickets but lost the second one, according to a lawsuit filed against the California Lottery, which was obtained by Patch.com.
Faramarz Lahijani publicly identified himself as the winner of the Mega Millions drawing held on December 8, 2023, in June. The drawing saw two tickets sold at the same Chevron gas station on Ventura Boulevard, California, win $197.5 million each as the $394 million jackpot was supposed to be split among the winners.
The second ticketholder, however, never came forward to claim their winnings before the one-year deadline. Lahijani filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the California Lottery claiming he purchased two tickets, but lost the second, on December 6, hours before the expiration date, arguing that he was the winner of both halves of the jackpot.
“By virtue of his having timely submitted the first matching ticket, plaintiff is entitled to the entirety of the jackpot."
Lahijani claims that his children picked the winning five white ball numbers -- 21, 26,53, 66, 70 -- and gold Mega Ball 13, having used the digits for decades. Lottery officials previously gave several reasons for two winning tickets being sold at the same store, which was awarded a California Lottery single retailer record bonus of more than $1.9 million -- $987,500 for each ticket -- for its sales.
“While this is incredibly unusual and interesting, it’s not unheard of,” said Carolyn Becker, California Lottery spokesperson, said last year via the New York Post. “There are any number of explanations; perhaps one person wanted to try their luck on two different rows for whatever reason, or maybe a couple of buddies wanted to try their chances with the same exact numbers. We won’t know exactly how this happened until the prize is claimed.”