This story was published more than 5 years ago.
Late last month a Vacaville, California man thought he won $10,000 on a scratch lottery ticket, only to have his roommate steal the ticket, which was actually worth $10 million!
The man went to a convenience store in Vacaville on December 20th, where he bought a $30 scratch off. The ticket was a big winner, and the man thought he'd won $10,000. He then went home to share the news with his roommate Adul Saosongyang. The next morning, the lucky winner went to a lottery office to claim his winnings with a ticket, only to be told it was a loser. It turns out that Saosongyang stole the winning ticket and swapped it with a loser!
The winner went to the police to report the ticket stolen. Authorities then began an investigation, where they obtained CCTV footage from the store, showing the rightful winner purchasing the ticket.
While the investigation was ongoing, Saosongyang went to claim his winnings, where he found out the ticket was worth $10 million. He went back on January 9th to claim his money, but was instead met by police who arrested him for suspicion of grand theft. He remains in the Sacramento County Jail.
The California State Lottery said that the rightful winner will likely get his winnings, but he'll have to be verified as the rightful owner of the ticket first. This serves as an important lesson in that players need to sign their winning tickets immediately after redeeming them.
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Comments
ALWAYS. SIGN. YOUR. TICKETS.
I'm happy that it looks like the victim here will get his dough, but man that could have gone bad. You HAVE to make sure you sign your tickets if you have a winner. This happens more frequently than you'd think (albeit mostly with smaller prizes).
sharpe
When i was a student and was living with a friend in one room we always were sharing everything including and money. Always. Also and winnings from bets and lottery tickets. And nobody was jealous. But believe me once i won bigger amount on combo sports bet and i didnt tell about this few hours to him. But finally i said it and we shared. I wasnt able to hold my joy inside:)
Ouch, I guess he wasn't much of a friend of he is stealing from his roommate, now he gets it even worse while he sits in jail, knowing that if he would have just left it alone, his roommate more than likely would have shared his winnings with him plus he would still have his freedom. Double stinger for that guy.
Ah, what an awkward situation... The man didn't get $10,000,000, instead first knew it as $10,000...
He had a life-changing win.
I wonder how long the 'friend' will be in the jail for this crime.
I bet he wont get a very long term, he didnt get any money in his possession really , even though he tried. Depending on his past, if he has any record I think will be the determining factor.
2 sharpe, coolsongss
That's really messed up. I don't think I could ever do that, and especially to someone you live with. I couldn't live with that kind of heavy heart afterwards..
Yeah, I think that you are right on it. From the news, he also knew and stole it as $10,000, when he found out $10 million, I want to know what he was feeling about it 🙂
The guy has been really lucky that there's a cameras at the store so that was the actual(and only) evidence he's in fact owing that ticket...otherwise that would it be unprovable.
Choose your roommates carefully guys. 😉
A happy ending story in the end 👍