The case of the missing lottery ticket has been solved.
A Florida woman who forfeited a $1,000 prize after her winning ticket got lost in the mail has now received the money, according to news reports.
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Sue Burgess' ticket turned up this week at state lottery offices in Tallahassee, but lottery officials couldn’t explain why it took weeks to find it nor the apparent mix-up at the post office, which failed to deliver it on time.
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FedEx delivered the money the next day, and lottery officials also sent along several consolation gifts, including a pen and tote.
Burgess said she was happy to finally have the money in her hands and will use the windfall to buy new tires for her car.
“If anybody else runs into a situation, call this lady because she is going to get the job done,” Burgess told news station WFLA, whose investigative reporter Shannon Behnken looked into the matter.
“I hit a brick wall and my wheels were spinning. I couldn’t get the information I wanted and that’s when I said ‘Better Call Behnken,’” Burgess said. “I am so glad I did.”
How it happened
Initially Burgess was told she couldn’t collect the money she won in a “second chance” drawing on July 29 because her ticket was never received.
She only had two ways to claim the prize — either send the ticket by certified mail or use a drop box at the lottery office in Ridge Manor, which was closed at the time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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With a limited window of time to turn the ticket in, Burgess told WFLA that she went with the U.S. Postal Service, feeling it would be the safer option.
Tracking information later showed the ticket arrived at a Tallahassee post office at 7:12 a.m. on Aug. 12, but also that the ticket was never delivered to the lottery office.
‘No ticket, no prize’
Burgess said she immediately jumped on the phone with lottery officials in Tallahassee but was told “no ticket, no prize.”
Oddly, the Florida Lottery keeps a record of winners in the second chance game because players register their names and contact information at the time of purchase. Burgess even said lottery officials had called her with the good news that she won.
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But without the ticket, contest rules dictated that the prize would automatically go to an alternate winner.
Burgess said there was a one-week time frame to submit the ticket, but she missed an email about being a winner and by the time the office called her, she only had days to get the ticket post-marked.
“That’s why you chose certified mail,” Burgess told the station. “With COVID, I understand the mail is a little bit slow. But for safety sake, certified mail usually has priority.”
What happened next is still a mystery.
Lottery officials initially told WFLA the ticket never arrived.
The claims department told Burgess to contact the Postal Service to find out what happened to her certified letter.
Postal Service apologizes
In a statement to the station, the Postal Service offered an apology to Burgess for any “inconvenience” and said it was investigating the matter, WFLA reported.
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Previously, lottery officials promised to bend the rules and pay Burgess the $1,000 if the letter arrived postmarked by the original deadline.
“Ms. Burgess' situation is an unusual circumstance and, to our knowledge, no other winner has experienced a similar issue,” the lottery said.
Information provided by The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
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