Arkansas Woman Who Lost $1 Million Lottery Ticket Entitled To Winnings

Sharon Duncan, a woman in Arkansas who discarded her winning lottery ticket, is entitled to the $1 million that her lottery ticket was good for, a Judge ruled Tuesday.

White County Judge Thomas Hughes ruled that the woman, Sharon Jones, who took the winning lotto ticket from a convenience store trash can in Beebe, A.K., will have to forfeit the prize money, which she already claimed, to Duncan.

James Simpson, an attorney representing Jones, intends on filing an appeal. He made note of the fact that Duncan testified she threw the ticket away after the ticket scanner said:

“Sorry. Not a winner.”

Attorney Simpson argues that people should not be allowed to throw items away and then reclaim them after they realize their worth. He was quoted by Y! News having said:

“We’d have garage-sale law all over the place. It became trash when someone threw it away.”

Regardless of Jones’ attorneys argument, Hughes conveyed his belief that Jones never met the burden of proof indicating Duncan had abandoned her right to the $1 million lottery prize. He was quoted having said:

“The $1 million was never found money.”

Jones’ testimony indicated that she had already spent a portion of the claimed prize money on cash gifts to her children and a new truck. She also went onto testify that she gathered a handful of discarded tickets from the Super 1 Stop store’s trash can, as she had done many times prior, and that there was no visible sign indicating that customers should not retrieve tickets from waste receptacles.

Who do you think is the rightful recipient of the $1 million lottery winnings: the woman who bought the winning lotto ticket, Sharon Duncan, or dumpster-diving Sharon Jones?