The $12.8 Million Uniform Change: Circle K and Store Manager Battle Over Winning Lottery Ticket
A legal battle is unfolding in Arizona over a $12.8 million lottery jackpot, centering on a series of events that sound more like a movie script than a corporate dispute. At the heart of the conflict is a single winning ticket from “The Pick” game, a store manager who changed his clothes to buy it, and a corporate giant claiming the prize belongs to the company.
The Incident: 85 Tickets, 60 Payments
The controversy began on November 24 at a Circle K location near Bell Road and 56th Street in Scottsdale. According to court documents, a customer requested that an employee print 85 lottery tickets. Yet, the customer only paid for 60 of them before leaving the store, leaving 25 unpaid tickets behind.
Among those abandoned tickets was the winner. The ticket matched all six winning numbers—3, 13, 14, 15, 19, and 26—securing a jackpot of $12.8 million.
The Controversy: The ‘Plan’ to Purchase
The dispute intensified when Robert Gawlitza, the store manager, discovered the winning ticket the following morning. The lawsuit alleges that after finishing his shift, Gawlitza went to his car, changed out of his employee uniform, and re-entered the store as a customer to purchase the remaining tickets for $10—a fraction of their potential value.
This specific sequence of events has grow a focal point for the legal teams. Josh Kolsrud, an attorney cited in the case, questioned the logic of the manager’s actions: “Who goes to their car and changes clothes to come back in and buy tickets unless they have a plan?” Kolsrud added that if evidence proves Gawlitza used inside information to acquire the ticket, Circle K should prevail in the case.
Legal Deadlock: Signed Tickets vs. Vendor Rules
The case presents a complex conflict between Arizona state law and lottery statutes:
- The Signature Rule: Under Arizona law, the person who signs the back of a winning ticket is considered the owner. If the ticket remains unsigned, ownership typically falls to the person in physical possession of it.
- The Vendor Rule: The Arizona Lottery statutes state that printed tickets that are not purchased become the property of the seller—in this instance, Circle K.
Gawlitza has already signed the ticket, but the physical document is currently held in a safe at Circle K’s corporate headquarters.
- The Prize: $12.8 million from “The Pick” lottery.
- The Conflict: A manager bought abandoned tickets after changing clothes to appear as a customer.
- The Legal Pivot: The court must decide if the “vendor ownership” rule overrides the “signed ticket” ownership law.
- The Deadline: The prize expires on May 23.
The Race Against the Clock
Time is a critical factor in this litigation. With the prize set to expire on May 23, Circle K has asked a judge in the Maricopa County Superior Court for a temporary restraining order. This order would prevent the Arizona Lottery from allowing the prize to expire while the court determines the rightful owner.
A spokesperson for Circle K told KTAR that the company is seeking the court’s guidance to handle these “exceptional circumstances” and emphasized that they are collaborating transparently with the Arizona Lottery.
A Rare Legal Precedent
This case is virtually unprecedented in Arizona. According to AZCentral, there are no similar cases in recent judicial archives, and state lottery officials have indicated they are unaware of any previous disputes of this nature.
The final ruling will not only determine who claims the $12.8 million but will also establish a critical precedent for how lottery retailers and employees handle abandoned tickets across the state.