The CVS logo on a basket at one of their stores. (Reuters)
An Illinois man is claiming that a CVS employee stole his winning $1 million scratch-off lottery card after being “coerced” inside the store.
Carlos Figueroa said in a lawsuit filed last week in Cook County Circuit Court that he bought the "Merry Millionaire" ticket on Oct. 30 at a CVS in Waukegan, but it came out cut in half due to a machine malfunction.
Figueroa says he was then “coerced” by a store employee into handing over half of the ticket under the intention that it would be checked to see if it was a winner, the Lake County News-Sun reported.
About 20 minutes later, according to the lawsuit, the worker gave Figueroa half of a different lottery ticket back – one that was not a winner – despite his protests to be handed the original ticket.
"(Figueroa) is in need of immediate relief in that unless the (CVS employee) and the Illinois Lottery Board is restrained… he will suffer immediate and irreparable harm," the lawsuit says, according to the Lake County News-Sun.
He is hoping to prevent the Illinois Lottery Board from paying out the winnings to the CVS employee.
Requests from the newspaper to reach Illinois lottery officials and CVS representatives were unsuccessful. The case is scheduled to be heard on March 19.
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