Lottery Winner Loses $197.5M Lawsuit Over Missing Ticket

David Moore · 2026-01-28

Imagine winning nearly $200 million, then watching half of it slip away because you lost a tiny piece of paper. That's the wild reality for Faramarz Lahijani, a man whose incredible lottery luck turned into a legal nightmare. He just lost a major lawsuit against the California Lottery, and the story behind it is stranger than fiction. ### The $395 Million Jackpot Split Back in December 2023, the Mega Millions jackpot hit a staggering $395 million. Two winning tickets emerged, both purchased at the same Chevron gas station in separate transactions. The prize was split evenly, meaning each ticket was worth $197.5 million. Lahijani came forward with one of the winning tickets. But he claimed he actually bought *both* tickets with the identical numbers. The problem? He couldn't find the second one. Lottery rules are brutally simple: no ticket, no prize. Despite his claim, officials wouldn't budge. They confirmed two winning tickets existed but stated Lahijani had "no claim to the additional portion of the jackpot" without physical proof. He had one year to claim, so right before the December 2024 deadline, he sued. ### Why The Court Sided With The Lottery This Monday, Judge Rolf M. Treu dismissed the case. The court's reasoning echoes a fundamental principle in gambling: the ticket is the only thing that matters. Think about it like a casino chip. You can't walk up to a cashier and say, "I had another $100 chip, but I dropped it." You need to present it. Here's how lottery claims typically work: - The system knows how many winning tickets were sold immediately after the draw. - It does NOT know who bought them until they are presented for payment. - The physical ticket is the sole bearer instrument—it's the key to the vault. Without that second key, Lahijani's argument couldn't unlock the other $197.5 million. His luck in picking numbers was phenomenal; his luck in holding onto the ticket was not. ### The Bizarre Twist In The Tale This case has one incredibly odd detail that makes you wonder. Both winning tickets came from the same gas station. That's pretty unusual. It does lend a sliver of credibility to Lahijani's story. If you're buying two tickets, doing it at the same place makes sense. But it also raises a huge, unanswered question. Why would anyone buy two tickets with the exact same numbers? It's a head-scratcher. It doesn't increase your odds of winning. It just means if your numbers hit, you'd win a larger share of the pot—but only if you can prove you own all the tickets. As one observer noted, "It's weird and makes little sense." Whether it was a mistake, a superstition, or a strategy gone wrong, that decision may have cost him nearly $200 million. ### Where The Unclaimed Millions Go So, what happens to that other $197.5 million? It doesn't go back into the lottery pool. In California, unclaimed prize money from the lottery is transferred to the state's public school system. So, while Lahijani's personal fortune was halved, the state's education fund just got a massive, unexpected boost. It's a bittersweet ending to a tale of incredible fortune and frustrating loss. The whole saga is a powerful reminder for anyone who plays games of chance. Whether it's a lottery ticket, a casino chip, or a betting slip, treat it like cash. Protect it. Because in the end, that physical token is everything. Your word, no matter how sincere, isn't enough to claim a prize. Lahijani learned that the hard way, and it's a $197.5 million lesson.