A man in Washington, D.C., is still seeking compensation for missing out on a $320 million Powerball jackpot due to a website error nearly four years ago.
A new federal lawsuit filed by John Cheeks includes the District of Columbia and various lottery contractors after previous legal attempts did not succeed.
The updated complaint aims to secure more than $100 million in compensatory damages, along with punitive damages and other forms of relief.
Cheeks, who previously ran as an independent candidate for a non-voting House seat in D.C., bought his Powerball ticket on January 6, 2023.
Unusual Error
All six of Cheeks’s numbers were listed as winners on the official D.C. Lottery website for three days.
However, these numbers did not match the winning numbers in the actual Powerball draw on January 7.
Court documents explain that the discrepancy occurred due to a website testing mistake involving Taoti Enterprises, a digital agency in Washington, D.C., responsible for designing and maintaining the D.C. Lottery website.
During a quality-assurance test, a transition from Coordinated Universal Time to Eastern Standard Time led to the unintentional uploading of randomly generated Powerball test numbers to the public lottery site instead of a private testing area.
By coincidence, these numbers matched Cheeks’s ticket.
Updated Legal Approach
Cheeks’s earlier lawsuit, which claimed fraud and unjust enrichment by the defendants, was dismissed in December 2025 due to lack of jurisdiction. The new lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated Cheeks’s constitutional rights while handling his claim.
Cheeks argues that the issue revolves around the process of managing his claim, including an alleged eight-month delay in making an administrative decision.
“This case concerns process, not outcome,” Cheeks asserts in the complaint.
He cites procedural and substantive due process violations, equal protection violations, civil conspiracy, and other allegations. Additionally, he argues that private contractors, such as Taoti, were essentially acting on behalf of the D.C. government.
Taoti disputes these claims and is once again seeking dismissal.
The company argues that Cheeks has already litigated the underlying dispute in court and cannot bring new claims based on the same incident. In a recent filing, Taoti stated that this current lawsuit is at least the fourth civil case Cheeks has initiated regarding the January 2023 Powerball error.
Records Requested by Cheeks
Cheeks maintains that crucial questions about the website error remain unanswered. He has requested access to records concerning Taoti’s contract with the lottery, website change logs, publication timestamps, content-management permissions, and the communication related to the erroneous numbers.
He argues that these documents could clarify who generated, approved, posted, corrected, or removed the numbers and shed light on the partnership between Taoti and D.C. lottery officials.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich denied Cheeks’s request for this information on August 31. Taoti contends that Cheeks cannot use the discovery process to gather facts needed to support a valid claim.
The company has asked Judge Friedrich to dismiss the claims against them with prejudice, preventing Cheeks from amending and pursuing them again in the same legal action.
This motion is awaiting the judge’s decision.