Paul Pasquarosa's Misprinted Lottery Ticket Fooled Him Into Thinking He Won $1 Million

Paul Pasquarosa thought he won $1 million, until his lawyer pointed out that the ticket had been misprinted.

Imagine holding what you believe to be a winning lottery ticket worth $1 million, only to find out that the ticket was printed in error and is worth nothing more than a good story to tell the local news.

That's what happened to Paul Pasquarosa of Boston, an unemployed father of two, who spent $10 on a lottery ticket the day before his birthday. (Hat tip to Time Newsfeed.)

Upon uncovering three red words on a scratch-off Cashword ticket, Pasquarosa believed he'd won the lottery's $1 million prize, according to CBS Boston.

“I’m looking at it; I have three red words. It says three red words wins a million dollars. I called my son and told him things were gonna be OK,” Pasquarosa told CBS Boston.

But Pasquarosa's joy was short-lived. When he showed the ticket to his lawyer, it was revealed that there was a "offset in the printing," according to CBS. Evidently, of the 20 million tickets printed, 2,200 of them were defective.

According to Time, lottery officials attempted to prevent the misprinted tickets from being sold. Pasquarosa's ticket was worth nothing.

This isn't the first time a misprint on a lottery ticket has caused a serious let-down.

Ann Marie Curcio sued the Florida Lottery for breach of contract after they dismissed her "winning" lottery ticket -- a ticket Curcio believed was worth $500,000, but was in fact printed in error, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The case has yet to go to trial, according to a local television station.

Pasquarosa's case might be exceptional, but stories of down-on-their-luck Americans playing the lottery in the hopes of a windfall are all too common. Financial hardship seems to have driven more lotto-ticket sales in recent years, as the job market has remained sluggish and wages have failed to rise for most workers.

That, in turn, has led critics to label the lottery a "regressive tax" -- a financial mechanism that tends to draw the most money out of the poorest people.

If you think you have a defective lottery ticket, it can be reported to the Lottery’s Claims/Legal Department, according to CBS.

WATCH: Misprinted Lottery Ticket Fools Paul Pasquarosa Into Thinking He Struck Gold

Also on HuffPost:

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• Woman's Friend Steals Winning Scratch-Off

  A South Carolina woman's luck stopped short after she told a few friends about her winning $500 ticket. Willie Jones, a friend of the winner, was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/south-carolina-stolen-lottery-ticket_n_1686630.html" target="_hplink">charged with stealing her ticket</a>.

• Man Wins Lotto, Bails Himself Out Of Jail

  After John Ross Jr. won a 'Set For Life' scratch off game, he was looking forward to turning his life around. However, Ross soon <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/john-ross-california-lott_n_1590089.html" target="_hplink">found himself behind bars</a> after he allegedly helped a woman hide and repair a stolen car.

• Woman 'Hides' Winning Ticket At McDonald's

  Mirlande Wilson, a McDonald's employee in Baltimore, claimed she <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/mirlande-wilson-maryland-mcdonalds-worker_n_1396943.html" target="_hplink">had won the record-high $656 million Mega Millions jackpot </a>and that she <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/what_mega_mess_wHA9HVdfxA1VDSqWn58KtJ" target="_hplink">was not going to share her winnings</a> with co-workers, who alleged that Wilson was a part of a workplace lottery pool. Wilson announced that she had <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/marlinde-wilson-mega-millions-winner-ticket-mcdonalds_n_1402892.html" target="_hplink">hid the winning ticket at a McDonald's</a> and subsequently <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/06/mirlande-wilson-mega-millions-mcdonalds_n_1408105.html" target="_hplink">claimed to have lost the ticket</a>. In the end, it was revealed<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/maryland-mega-millions-winner_n_1414857.html" target="_hplink"> Wilson never even had the winning ticket</a>.

• Geniuses Outsmart Massachusetts Cash WinFall

  A group including MIT undergraduates and a biomedical researcher <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/massachusetts-cash-winfall-lottery_n_1729416.html" target="_hplink">discovered a loophole in the Cash WinFall game</a> that netted them nearly $48 million. Apparently, lottery officials knew about the scam since at least 2010, but did nothing about it because it generated $16 million in revenue for the state.

• Lotto Winner Found Million Dollar Ticket While Cleaning Out Desk

  Retired hospice chaplain Ron Yurcus <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/ron-yurcus-glen-ellyn-lot_n_2139308.html">stumbled across a million-dollar miracle when he found a winning lottery ticket while cleaning out his desk</a> in November 2012. He had purchased the Powerball ticket from a BP gas station two months earlier.

• Controversy Over Record Mega Millions Jackpot

  After <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/06/mirlande-wilson-mega-millions-mcdonalds_n_1408105.html" target="_hplink">McDonald's employee Mirlande Wilson</a> falsely claimed she won Mega Millions' record $656 million jackpot, three <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/maryland-mega-millions-winner_n_1414857.html?ref=money#s785675&title=Undocumented_Immigrant_Awarded" target="_hplink">Maryland school teachers</a> stepped forward to claim their share of the prize.

• New York Brothers Charged With Scamming $5 Million Lottery Ticket

  Two brothers from central New York who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/andy-and-nayel-ashkar-lottery-scam_n_2123886.html">claimed a $5 million lottery ticket sold at their family's store were accused in November 2012 of scamming the winning ticket from a customer.</a> Andy Ashkar, 34, and Nayel Ashkar, 36, are charged with second-degree attempted grand larceny and fourth-degree conspiracy.

• Chicago Man Wins New Jersey Lottery While Cleaning Up After Hurricane Sandy

  John Turner, a 38-year-old Chicago man, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/john-turner-wins-lottery-_n_2105194.html">bought a winning $100,000 lottery ticket </a>after coming to New Jersey to help clean up after Hurricane Sandy. Turner runs National Catastrophe Solutions of Chicago, a local water removal business.

• Homeless Man Wins $200,000 Lottery Prize

  A homeless man in Greenville, S.C. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/19/homeless-man-wins-lottery-greenville_n_1989771.html">won $200,000 from a scratch-off lottery game</a> in October 2012.

• Teen Cancer Survivor Wins Mega Millions Lottery

  Nicholas Ruth, a 19-year-old cancer survivor, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/nicholas-ruth-teen-cancer-survivor-mega-millions-lottery-video_n_1916132.html">matched five of the six numbers in the state's Mega Millions lottery</a>, earning himself a second-tier prize of $250,000 in September 2012. After taxes, Ruth will have about $165,000 to spend and plans to donate some of his money back to the organizations that helped him with his leukemia.

• Friends Win Mega Millions Jackpot After Playing Together For 25 Years

  Willie McPherson, 74, and Christopher Manzi, 44, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/06/mcpherson-manzi-mega-millions-lottery-25-years_n_1944181.html#slide=757174">won a $14 million jackpot in September 2012 </a>after playing the Mega Millions lottery together for 25 years, according to the New York Post. The two had been buying lottery tickets together after becoming friends while working at Manzi’s print shop in Manhattan.

• Clerk Steals Winning Ticket From Great-Grandma

  A store clerk in England tried to turn in 77-year-old Maureen Holt's winning lottery ticket himself after <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/lottery-ticket-stolen-from-great-grandmother_n_1733871.html" target="_hplink">telling her it was a losing ticket</a>.

• Teen Finds Ticket In Messy Bedroom

  Ryan Kitching, a Scottish teenager,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/04/ryan-kitching-teenage-winning-lottery-tickert-clean-room_n_1319413.html" target="_hplink"> found a winning lottery ticket hiding in his bedroom</a> after his mother told him to clean his room. The ticket is worth more than $80,000.

• Chicago Couple Keeping Millions Secret

  One Chicago couple won <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-06/news/ct-met-anonymous-lottery-20111106_1_lottery-winners-illinois-lottery-lottery-jackpot" target="_hplink">$30 million in the Illinois lottery</a>, but didn't even tell their kids, according to the <em>Chicago Tribune</em>.

• Connecticut Money Managers Win Big Jackpot

  Greg Skidmore, Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson, who work at an asset management firm in Greenwich, one of the most affluent towns in America, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/254-million-jackpot-connecticut-money-managers_n_1119321.html">came forward as lottery winners in 2011</a>. Their lawyer said they formed a trust to manage the money after Davidson bought the $1 winning ticket at a Stamford gas station.

• Lotto Winner Continued To Collect Food Stamps

  Amanda Clayton, 24-year-old from the Detroit-area,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/amanda-clayton-michigan-lottery-food-assistance-stamps_n_1330716.html" target="_blank"> continued collecting $200 in government food assistance</a> after she won a $1 million lotto prize.

• Undocumented Immigrant Awarded Lotto Prize After Lawsuit

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/jose-antonio-cua-toc-undocumented-immigrant-lottery-ticket_n_1334564.html" target="_hplink">Jose Antonio Cua-Toc, a foreign national from Guatemala,</a> sued his former boss to reclaim his lotto money, which he had given to his employer out of fear of being exposed as an undocumented immigrant. Cua-Toc won the lawsuit.

• Iowa Lottery Winner Claims $16.5 Million Prize At Last Minute

  The winner of an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/30/iowa-lottery-winner-last-minute_n_1176971.html">Iowa Lottery ticket in 2011 </a>valued at $16.5 million waited until two hours before the deadline to claim the prize. The ticket was purchased nearly one year ago.

• Winning $80K Lottery Ticket Donated To Burglarized Georgia Church

  In 2011, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/03/winning-80k-lottery-ticke_n_947272.html">an anonymous donor stepped in to help a Georgia church that was burglarized with a winning $80,000</a> lottery ticket the Associated Press reports.

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Comments

[Rocketmanonline]

08:33 AM on 06/07/2012

Mistakes happen and if the Company making the tickets screws up or the folks at the Lotto give the guy a $1000.00 cause it isn't like your loosing money selling lotto tickets espically today.

[adictgamer]

04:53 PM on 05/16/2012

What about winning tickets that are misprinted? There would be no way for a person to know they had won. If it says on the ticket three red words wins then it should win. On a similar note, as others have stated an unemployed person has no business playing the lotto. Maybe his lack of judgement has something to do with his unemployment.

[Namechange]

12:27 PM on 06/07/2012

I was about to favorite your reply till the comment of unemployment came up. That is judgemental. If I had $10, my children were fed, gas in my car, roof over my head, everything is okay, & it's the day before my birthday- depseratley looking for a way out- I probably would try to get lucky & buy a lotto ticket. Judge less, please, your ignorance is showing.

[adictgamer]

05:00 PM on 06/07/2012

That $10 could have been saved for next week. It is simple mathematics that the odds are against you winning, so it is logical that a person without a steady source of income should not spend money on games of chance. I have a close friend who has been unemployed for years and just scrapes by doing odd jobs, but spends $10 a week on the lottery. If saved the $520 per year would pay his utilities for a month or so, or his groceries for 5-6weeks. Just because your belly is full today does not mean you won't be hungry tomorrow.

[donaldaq63]

03:36 AM on 05/14/2012

They should give him ten grand at least.

[florencebrady]

02:13 AM on 05/14/2012

That's called "fraud"

If it had been reported by the lottery commission that misprints were out there BEFORE he bought the ticket.

But since that wasn't disclosed-----he should be awarded the prize. I hope he wins in court.

But I resent the "critics" who purport to call it a "regressive tax."

People need to take personal responsibility. Nobody has a gun to an unemployed person's head forcing them to buy a ticket.

You can't legislate responsibility or stupidity!

[xgomazx]

01:59 AM on 05/14/2012

I call BS on the state. They screwed up they should pay up.
Otherwise what is to prevent them from saying ANY winning ticket is a misprint.
If it says 3 red words mean a win. then 3 red words should be a win.

[StevenRussell1]

01:40 AM on 05/14/2012

The lottery. There's a sucker born every minute.

Fools and foolishness.

[GOODDOC1]

02:10 AM on 05/14/2012

Did that make you feel superior?

[Beth Collins Franklin]

01:16 AM on 05/14/2012

THEY made a huge mistake, I agree with pay, pay, pay the ticket but yet if they cannot pay the million the ticket should be worth, at least come clean on THIER MISTAKE AND MISPRINTED tickets and pay the folks each 100,000.00 dollars. The lottery would still be SAVING a ton of money, the ticket players are happy and will continue to be a lottery player whether win or lose and every one is happy. IT is NOT the mans faught who purchased the ticket, and the LOTTERY Could pay these people who got the three red words some monies and than every one is happy. This is crazy and NOT RIGHT>

[facethetruth1128]

12:34 AM on 05/14/2012

If you are poor, why waste the money you do have by buying lottery tickets, which have near impossible odds? They might as well just flush it down the toilet. I had a medical crisis last year and had to use welfare assistance for two months. I had never used it before or since and even before we got the assistance, we sold all we could in order to avoid assistance and to get by. I was appalled at how many people at the county office were wearing designer clothes and shoes. Quite a few were using expensive cell phones and even Ipads.
I do not feel sorry for people who do not have a lot of money and spend the money they do have on lottery tickets, expensive clothes and electronics. I do feel sorry for people who are poor or unemployed, who do all they can to get by and save every dime they have in order to do it.

[GOODDOC1]

02:11 AM on 05/14/2012

And I bet you feel all superior for writing all that now, don't you?

[facethetruth1128]

03:41 AM on 05/14/2012

I was using an experience as an example to back up the statement made in the article that the poorest people are the ones funding the lottery. It is not my fault you do not understand the concept of a concise statement backed by supporting evidence.

People with your "let it be" attitude who feel self-righteous when defending such actions, are the reason people will continue to abuse the system and be encouraged to make bad choices.

[Semper Fi Jar Head]

11:31 PM on 05/13/2012

I think I will start a lottery to put these run by our state officials dollars that are stolen and used for other purposes than our schools. I still have people coming buy my home begging for pencile and paper for class rooms that can not afford to buy these simple needed things. Eventhough the lottery braggs on the BILLIONS of dollars that has been made for schools ????????? I WANDER WHERE THE MONEY HAS GONE . I sure have not won any ?????????????.....

[Semper Fi Jar Head]

11:23 PM on 05/13/2012

I say pay the ticket . The lottery printed and sold knowing that the bad tickets were out there but sold them anyway. PAY PAY PAY or I wont buy buy buy any more if you can make the odds you should have closed the game down as soon as you knew about the error but you did not. A thief is a theif is a theif.

[glennherger]

08:59 PM on 05/13/2012

obviously, he could not have printed the ticket. they should award him the prize

[Act out]

12:25 PM on 05/12/2012

If lottery sales are up then I think they should be giving more people a chance to win and have two drawings when the amount reaches into the the tens of millions.

[missmanners]

09:00 AM on 05/12/2012

I think selling tickets that are known to be mistakes is deliberate fraud.

Allowing your citizens to hopefully buy a chance when you know the tickets are going to be rejected is also a breach of trust.

[xgomazx]

02:00 AM on 05/14/2012

Exactly. If they knew some of the tickets were bad. they should have insisted everyone not sell any of the tickets

[GOODDOC1]

02:12 AM on 05/14/2012

SPAM ALERT!

[Life With HC]

08:09 PM on 05/11/2012

Certainly if I were unemployed, I would be buying lottery tickets.

[babettekittie]

12:11 AM on 05/14/2012

Exactly what I was thinking...must spend his unemployment on lottery tickets while others suffer to get the necessities.