Customer ‘tricked into handing over $1m lottery ticket’

A CVS employee tricked a customer into handing over a winning lottery ticket, a lawsuit alleges.

Carlos Figueroa, from Waukegan, Illinois, claims he bought the ‘Merry Millionaire’ scratch-off card, worth $1 million, on October 30 from a CVS Pharmacy in the city.

In the suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Mr Figueroa said he bought the ticket from a vending machine which cut the ticket in half due to a malfunction. 

He alleged he was then ‘coerced’ by a staff member into handing over his half of the scratch-off card to check if it was a winning ticket.

After 20 minutes, Mr Kelly returned with another ticket, he claims. 

Since then, he has repeatedly asked the store to return the ticket. 

In the lawsuit, Figueroa demands a temporary restraining order and injunction against the Illinois Lottery Board to stop it from paying out the money to the employee, the Chicago Tribune reported. 

The customer alleged he was then ‘coerced’ by a staff member into handing over his half of the scratch-off card to check if it was a winning ticket

‘(Figueroa) is in need of immediate relief in that unless the (CVS employee) and the Illinois Lottery Board is restrained … he will suffer immediate and irreparable harm,’ the lawsuit reads.

A court hearing has been scheduled for March 19.