The chain of events began on the evening of Nov. 24, 2025, when a customer walked into the Circle K at 5601 E. Bell Road in Scottsdale, Arizona, and asked a clerk to replay previously used numbers for that night’s drawing of The Pick, a state lottery game where players try to match six numbers for $1 per ticket. The clerk printed 85 tickets, but the customer only had $60, enough for 60. He took those and left, leaving 25 tickets on the counter, 12 News reported.
The tickets sat untouched overnight.
That evening, the Arizona Lottery drew the winning numbers: 3, 13, 14, 15, 19 and 26. One of the 25 abandoned tickets was a perfect match for all six, making it worth $12.8 million. It was the fourth-largest prize in The Pick’s history and the biggest jackpot awarded in Arizona since 2019, according to the Arizona Lottery.
When Robert Gawlitza, the store manager, arrived for his shift the next morning and heard a winning ticket had been printed at his location, he went looking. He found the leftover stack, scanned through the tickets and confirmed one was the jackpot winner, according to court documents filed Feb. 17.
What happened next is at the heart of the dispute. According to the lawsuit, Gawlitza immediately clocked out, took off his Circle K uniform and had another employee ring him up for the entire stack of leftover tickets, including the winner, for $10. He received a receipt and signed the back of the winning ticket.
Arizona Lottery rules explicitly prohibit store employees from playing any lottery game while working, the Phoenix New Times reported. Retailers can lose their license to sell tickets if an employee is caught doing so. Gawlitza’s decision to clock out and change out of his uniform before making the purchase suggests he may have been aware of that rule.
Circle K management learned about the situation the same day and took possession of the ticket, which is being held at the company’s corporate offices. On Feb. 17, the company filed a declaratory judgment complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court, naming both Gawlitza and the Arizona Lottery as defendants.
Despite being the plaintiff, Circle K is not directly claiming the money. A spokesperson told Newsweek the filing is “not an action against any specific party” but a request for the court to determine rightful ownership.
The legal question hinges on a provision in the Arizona Administrative Code: when a retailer prints a lottery ticket that a customer refuses or abandons and the ticket is not resold, the ticket is considered property of the retailer. This exists because retailers pay the Arizona Lottery for every ticket they print, whether or not those tickets are sold. In this case, Circle K paid for 85 tickets and only recouped the cost of 60.
Arizona state Rep. Jeff Weninger, chairman of the House Commerce Committee, told AZ Family the administrative rules are straightforward: if retailers overprint, they own the tickets. But whether Gawlitza’s purchase after the drawing constitutes a legitimate resale is the question the court must answer.
Former Arizona Lottery spokesman John Edgar told the Phoenix New Times that having 25 unsold tickets sitting around is unusual. While some retailers pre-print tickets during big jackpot runs, it is in the retailer’s interest to sell every ticket it prints since it pays for them regardless.
“This is a unique situation, and we are not aware of any prior litigation of this sort involving the Arizona Lottery,” a lottery spokesperson said, as reported by AZ Family.
The financial stakes extend beyond the $12.8 million. Arizona Lottery retailers earn a 6.5% commission on all ticket sales. Retailers that sell a jackpot-winning ticket for in-state draw games can also receive a $10,000 bonus for top prizes over $1 million.
The prize must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing, giving whoever ultimately prevails until May 23, 2026.
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