Lottery Troubles
A Tennessee man has filed suit claiming the $1M tax on hope payout wasn’t random:
Dennis Perry, a 57-year-old disabled veteran from Fayetteville, won $10,000 on June 26 during a drawing for the largest prize awarded since the Tennessee Lottery began in January. He was one of three finalists for the $1 million grand prize.
In a lawsuit filed in Lincoln County, Perry is seeking as damages the remaining $990,000 he did not win.
Perry’s attorney, Raymond Fraley, of Fayetteville, said that proving damages would be difficult. But he said mistakes made during the televised drawing kept it from being random, making the results invalid.
Perry “didn’t get to pick an envelope because it was done for him,” Fraley said. “And that goof-up involved something as important as who wins $1 million.”
Drawing rules provided that the three finalists select an envelope that would award them $10,000 or send them to the next round for possible prizes of $25,000 or $1 million. The envelopes were attached to a wheel that was spun to mix them up.
Bridget Magers-Elliott of Stantonville spun the wheel, and announcer John Dwyer of WKRN-TV in Nashville instructed her to take the envelope that was closest to where a pointer on the wheel landed.
Dwyer then told the third contestant, Mark Silor of Knoxville — who won the $1 million — to take the envelope next to that one. Perry had to take the remaining envelope.
