David Renshaw from Syndey has attempted to sue NSW Lotteries over a twenty year old lottery prize. Renshaw claims he bought the winning ticket for the $3,300,000 jackpot and that he checked it at a local store, however despite stating the machine said he was a ‘provisional winner’ the shopkeeper said he hadn’t won and threw the ticket away.
Renshaw says the incident has played on his mind for the last twenty years and has taken the case to the NSW Supreme Court, suing the lottery company.
He stated to the court that he questioned the attendant after seeing the words ‘Provisional winner’, but the assistant insisted it was not a winner and threw the ticket away. Adding extra confusion to the case is the fact that he’s not the only player to attempt to claim this 1997 lottery win. Western Sydney man Robert Clemmett claimed in 2013 that he had bought the winning ticket for the draw but his case failed and he was ordered to pay the NSW Lotteries costs in the case.
It seems that a 2001 current affair programme brought the unclaimed ticket to light and since then there have been several claims on the twenty year old ticket. In all, more than 50 people have attempted to claim the prize since 2001 when the show aired, but none has been successful so far.
The court argues that David Renshaw NSW lottery machines have never flashed up the words ‘provisional winner’ and the case continues.
It’s the most unusual case of an unclaimed ticket we’ve ever heard of, and it seems unlikely anyone is going to be able to claim this win twenty years on!