Powerball ticket dispute is back — and now $100M are on the line

Imagine checking the official District of Columbia Lottery website and seeing all six numbers on your Powerball ticket listed as winners. Then, you learn those weren’t the actual numbers drawn. That’s what happened to District of Columbia resident John Cheeks nearly four years ago, and his legal fight over the ticket isn't finished. Cheeks has now filed a new federal lawsuit against the District of Columbia and several lottery contractors. This new amended complaint seeks over $100 million in compensatory damages, along with punitive damages and other relief. This latest case is taking a different approach after his previous lawsuit was dismissed in December 2025.

How did the wrong Powerball numbers appear?

This dispute began back in January 2023 when Cheeks bought a Powerball ticket for the January 7, 2023, drawing.

Cheeks didn’t match the numbers actually drawn that night. However, all six numbers on his ticket appeared on the official District of Columbia Lottery website, where the incorrect combination remained for three days.

According to court records, the strange coincidence took place because of a website testing mistake.

At the time, Taoti Enterprises, a digital agency contracted to work on the District of Columbia Lottery website, had a quality-assurance team testing a switch from Coordinated Universal Time to Eastern Standard Time.

During that testing, a set of random Powerball numbers was generated and accidentally uploaded to the live lottery website instead of a private testing environment. Those randomly generated numbers just happened to match Cheeks’ ticket.

However, because they weren’t the actual numbers selected during the official Powerball drawing, Cheeks wasn’t awarded the jackpot, which was worth $340 million at the time.

His new argument in federal court

During his initial lawsuit, Cheeks pursued claims including fraud and unjust enrichment. However, that case was dismissed in December 2025 after the court found it lacked jurisdiction.

Now, his new lawsuit is focusing instead on how his prize claim was handled.

In his complaint, Cheeks states, "This case concerns process, not outcome.”

Among his allegations are violations of procedural and substantive due process and equal protection, along with civil conspiracy and other claims. Cheeks also states that private contractors involved with the lottery were effectively acting alongside the District of Columbia government.

Taoti is disputing those allegations and has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed.

They state the underlying Powerball dispute has already been litigated, and Cheeks shouldn’t be allowed to continue bringing new claims arising from the same incident. According to Taoti’s recent court filing, this is at least the fourth civil lawsuit Cheeks has filed related to the January 2023 incident.

Cheeks wants more information about the error

In the lawsuit, Cheeks is seeking records that he believes could provide more details about how the incorrect numbers were posted on the public website. Those records include website change logs, publication timestamps, content-management permissions, communications, and information about Taoti’s lottery contract.

He argues the documents could show who generated, posted, approved, corrected, or removed the incorrect numbers. However, his discovery request was denied by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich on August 31, 2026.

Now, Taoti is asking the judge to dismiss the claims against their company with prejudice, which would prevent Cheeks from simply amending those claims and trying again in the same case. For now, the case is still waiting for its next decision in federal court.

Enjoy playing the District of Columbia Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.