Crushed lottery winner loses $5,000 prize to DEO but news channel fights back
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When Florida resident Michael Everett walked into the Lake Buena Vista Publix supermarket last Monday night, he never thought he would come back with a big prize from his ‘Monopoly Doubler’ lottery ticket.
To his surprise he found that he had won $5,000 in the bonus play promotion.
The game is played by players going to the Florida Lottery's website and clicking on the PROMOTIONS tab.
They then select the Monopoly™ Doubler Bonus Play Promotion and follow the directions.
Florida Lottery then conducts two drawings in the Promotion to select prize winners.
Mike Holfeld interviews Michael Everett on his win and the DEO money mixup. PHOTO: WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando
The next day, filled with the possibilities of his winning cash outcome, Michael went to the lottery office in Altamonte Springs.
Only to find out the Department of Economic Opportunity had laid claim to his prize win.
He was understandably shocked, because there few some issues with some forms that led him to believe he didn’t owe them money.
When the “Make Ends Meet” News 6 channel stepped in, they found another 6 lotto winners had also been intercepted by the DEO.
News 6 investigator Mike Holfeld checked out the Florida DEO. PHOTO: WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando
So they contacted the reemployment team at the department to get some answers. Watch the video above to see what happened next…
