A "winning" lottery ticket misprint fooled a New Mexico man into thinking he'd won more than $500,000 on the scratch-off, but his dreams were soon dashed when he was informed that it was all a mistake.
John Wines bought the ticket at a gas station in Roswell. After scratching off what appeared to be winning numbers, he presented the ticket to the store clerk, who scanned it and told him it
wasn’t a winner, Fox News reported.
The winning numbers above two $250,000 jackpots were 1 and 2. Wines thought he had 1s above each of them, but the computer indicated his numbers were 12 and 18, with the second digit appearing unrecognizable.
Wines, a retired heating and air conditioning repairman, contacted the New Mexico Lottery, and officials confirmed the misprint and offered him
$100 in lottery tickets, KOB-TV reported.
But Wines isn’t satisfied with that response.
"I mean, if you thought you won $500,000 and somebody tells you that you didn't, and you can prove to them you did, it's pretty stressful for somebody to say, 'no you're not getting your money,'" Wines said, according to KOB-TV.
Wines said he is bothered most by the principle of the decision.
"I'm an honest person," he said, according to CNN. "It's just not right."
Twitter users reacted to the story.