Circle K Clerk Defends Cashing In a $12.8 Million Lottery Ticket Left Behind by a Customer

A Circle K store clerk is fighting to hold onto a winning lottery ticket, which he claims is rightfully his.

According to a Thursday, July 9 report by ABC 15, a Phoenix, Arizona, Circle K has filed a complaint against store clerk Robert Gawlitza, claiming he cashed a $12.8 million winning lottery ticket that a customer decided not to purchase at the store in November.

Gawlitza, meanwhile, claims he followed company policy amid a legal battle over who rightfully owns the winning ticket.

According to the complaint, per the outlet, the customer asked to buy $85 in tickets for “The Pick” lottery game, in which players must match six numbers on their tickets to the six numbers called. The clerk who was working reportedly printed the tickets, but the customer only had $60.

The remaining $25 in tickets was left behind at the store overnight. Later that evening, the winning numbers were called. According to the lawsuit, however, Gawlitza didn’t purchase the tickets until after he clocked out the next day, buying them from another employee.

Per the outlet, Circle K management was alerted to the winning ticket shortly afterward, with the company requesting that it be kept in its head office until the rightful winner of the jackpot was determined by a judge.

Now that the rightful owner of the $12.8 million prize is being debated in court, Gawlitza is fighting to clear his name. In a statement to ABC 15, the Circle K clerk’s attorney, Josh Kolsrud, claimed his client followed store policy, which requires employees to purchase any leftover lottery tickets, noting that Gawlitza even contacted his supervisor to confirm he could purchase the tickets before buying them.

“So, if you accidentally print them out and they go unsold, it’s the industry practice for the person who prints them out to be responsible to pay for them. If not the person, then the store manager,” Kolsrud told ABC 15, adding that another store employee even rang him up. “My client, he wanted to do the right thing.”

Despite following what he believed was company protocol, Kolsrud told ABC 15 that Gawlitza, who worked for the company for 20 years, was fired by Circle K management for allegedly violating store policy.

“He loved his job, he would love to go back,” Kolsrud told ABC 15. “He’s not there anymore because he did do the right thing. He tried to follow all the policies, letter for letter, word for word, and he got fired for it.”

Circle K, meanwhile, says they, too, just want to do the right thing, telling People in a February statement that they’re committed to “maintaining a strong, transparent partnership with the Arizona Lottery.”

The statement continued, “That commitment is precisely why we have asked the court how best to proceed under these unique circumstances. It is not accurate to characterize this as a lawsuit against any specific party. It is a declaratory judgment complaint filed to seek clarity from the court to determine rightful ownership of this lottery ticket.”