He Bought a $12.8M Winning Lottery Ticket. Then He Was Fired.

0:00Today I am excited to be joined with Robert Galitsa and his attorney, Josh Colesrude. Now in November of 2025, Robert was a longtime circle-k employee and store manager in the state of Arizona. When he purchased a ticket for the pick, which is a draw game, a lottery game in the state of Arizona, that turned out to be worth 12.8 million jackpot. But instead of claiming the jackpot, Robert found himself at the center of a legal dispute over who actually owns the winning ticket. Robert and Josh, thank you guys so much for taking the time today. Robert, the morning that you realized there was a 12.8 million winning ticket that had been printed at your store that very morning, can you take me back to that moment when you first realized that your store had printed the winning ticket? What happened? Oh, it was just brought to my attention from one of my assistants. She got received a text message

1:02saying that her store had sold the ticket. Channel 15 news report saying, hey, we sold it. I was like, oh, well, that's really cool. I've never been a part of the store. The sold such a big winner before. So I thought that was a pretty cool thing. So I was like, what's happened to my fellow, you know, store managers and those boats in the valley? Because it's pretty cool thing. And then once you knew this, what would happen next? Did you went to the store at one point? No, I was at the store. Oh, you were at the store? Okay. I was at the store. The whole day of this this whole thing, I came to the store and I was at the store the whole day. Never left it. You knew that one of them was this 12.8 million winner. Before you purchased some of the remaining tickets, did you know that this was that one of them was the winner that you were purchasing? The one that I purchased, I was aware it had the winning numbers in it.

2:06Regardless of whether or not it was a winning ticket or not, I was an unwritten store policy for me to actually purchase the leftover lottery tickets from the night before. What was your understanding of the store policy? Well, the reason why we buy the unperturbed lottery tickets from the night before us to balance the books. So when it was brought to my attention that there was some extra tickets left over from the night before. I was in the process of doing the store paperwork. So I went to the front to see if these tickets were up there while speaking with my assistant manager and she explained where they were as she was working the night before. When I discovered that one of the tickets that I had to purchase was the winning ticket. I did purchase it because regardless, I had to purchase the winning ticket whether it was winning or losing. Then afterwards, proceeded to contact Circle K and find out how they would like to proceed

3:09forward with this because I've never had this happen before. Usually you buy the losing tickets and then we just rip them up and throw them away. But this one was a winning ticket. So I was trying to find what am I allowed to do, what am I supposed to do from them. And what were you told? I asked for permission if I was allowed to purchase said ticket and through text message conversations and my superior, my district manager gave me authorization to purchase the ticket. I then proceeded the question to make sure that she is aware of what ticket we're talking about. And she knew what ticket we're talking about because she proceeded to then ask for, hey, don't forget me, I'm not porting over at Sheeler. So she knew exactly what ticket we're talking about. How do you seeing other employees purchase tickets in this way before? Yes, that's actually why we have six affidavits. I see Susan 7 affidavits right now. So there

4:09are, this happens all over. So it's not just localized just in my store. This happens at other stores. Why did you clock out and remove your shirt before making this particular? There's store policy not to be on the clock when you purchase lottery tickets. I have to clock out, make sure I'm following the guidelines. I remove my shirt to that way. There will be no indications later on or questioning of where you or where you not clocked out. If I'm in my regular street clothes, there's no questioning it. I'm not in circle K attire. But I never went home. I never changed my clothes. I never, you know, then drove back to the store. I was in the store the whole day. When I discovered this, I wanted to follow corporate policies. I took off my shirt. I clocked out, went to the front, purchased it like a normal customer, came back in and I clocked in and went about my day. Which is what would have happened if the ticket was a losing ticket. It's the same thing what happened. And what was going through your

5:13mind at the time? Confusion? Like, I don't, I'd never been in a situation where one of these tickets is won. It's always been a losing ticket. So I was just trying to find out how do we proceed? Where do we go? And the order of trying to get this us to move forward? And I want to bring in your attorney, Josh Colesrude, real quick, because a circle K's written policy says employees can't purchase lottery tickets while they're on duty. But can you explain why you believe this was a legal sale? Yeah, and thank you. So circle K has had a long settled policy that requires its employees to purchase accidentally or mistakenly printed lottery tickets. The reason why is that the Arizona lottery says that once a ticket is printed,

6:21that it belongs to the vendor. So the vendor is responsible for paying the Arizona lottery for the ticket. And just like raise tracks, you know, if a teller at a raise track prints out a ticket for a horse raise or a dog raise, and it's a mistake in ticket, they're responsible for purchasing it. So this is common practice in the gambling industry. We recently hired an expert who will be testifying to that. But circle K, along with the industry standards, had this policy to hold an employee's accountable for printing out tickets that went unsold. Because what they're supposed to do is they're supposed to accept the money first before ringing up the transaction. They're supposed to receive the money, have it paid for, and then print the ticket. So in order

7:23to stop this behavior, circle K follows this policy and puts the onus on the employee to pay for it, puts the liability on the employee to pay for it. And circle K now is saying, well, you know, that's fine, but that's still our ticket. You know, that's, you know, when they found out that the ticket was worth 12.8 million, even though they had already given Robert permission to purchase the ticket, they reneged on what they said and demanded that Robert turn the ticket over to them, which he did. And then unceremoniously fired him a couple of months later for violating their policy. He was fired for violating the policy of having purchased the ticket. Yes, their policy. They fired Robert for following their policy. Yep. Robert, how did that feel when that happened? And how were you informed of that? Well, I think they came into my store.

8:28Pretty much the regional director is the who terminated me and he explained to me that they feel even though I follow their policy and clocked out and purchased the ticket, they felt that was still supposed to be on the clock at that time. So therefore, I broke their policy. During that time, I was off the clock. I wasn't paid. I'm not on salary. I'm on hourly pay. So I don't understand how I was supposed to be still on the clock at that time. So it's a little bit, you know, I felt a little bit betrayed and hurt because all these years, I've always followed the guidelines and the rules of the store and the company. And that's all I'm trying to do is clear my name. I did the right thing that day. I followed their rules and their policies. And instead, I've been thrown under the bus. This has been a few months now. Do you have a job now? Are you still? Nothing concrete. Nothing's a permanent job. No.

9:32Explain the difficulties of how long it's taken you to even find a job and what's happened. Yeah. So pretty much after the termination, my wife's been on paying all the bills right now. I've been applying for jobs and other locations. And pretty much what happens is once I've submitted the application for the job, I'll get a response back. Basically, questioning, argue this person because my last name is only three people in the United States with that last name. It's just my parents and I. So when I apply for jobs, they Google my last name and they go, oh, he's the guy with the lawsuit issue with the lottery ticket. And then once they they identify that who I am, then they kind of move on past me. Well, we're just not, we've filled the position or we've hired someone else or we're going in another direction or one of

10:35those reasonings is the why they don't proceed any further. But that's after they've questioned, are you this person that's in the news? Yes, yes, that's me. Oh, I see. And then you get that answer. So it's like, obviously, that's why you're giving me this answer is because of this case. It's been a little hard trying to find work. Would you say that this legal fight for 12.8 million ticket is about the 12.8 million or your reputation or both of those things? There's circle. Okay, I feel it's about the money for myself. I feel it's about my name. This is about, you know, you know, I don't want to tarnish my father's name. I feel it's been run through the mud right now. Whenever someone there's the last name, Glitza, that's this is what they're going to think of. Now that sets me because I'm an honorable man. I work very hard. That's how I was raised by my parents.

11:36And for me to be betrayed, like I did some horrific thing wrong, you know, that hurts. You know, because I follow the rules. I was complying it that whole day. I don't understand why we had to go down this road. Why we couldn't talk like adults about this. So that's what all this is about for me. It's this clearing my name. Why did you give the ticket to Circle K if you believed that it belonged to you? I gave them the ticket because I was trying to be compliant. They were demanding the ticket be handed over to them. You know, I regardless of whatever's going on with the lottery winnings, I still need the job. I still need to provide for my family. You know, I'd never been in this situation before. So I want to do the right thing. So that, you know, that's why I handed it over to them is trying to figure out how do we proceed? Josh, several current and former employees of Circle K have provided sworn statements,

12:40affidavits, supporting Robert's account of this ticket purchase practice. What have they said and why is this so important in this case? You know, we have, you know, we've filed six affidavits. We have seven now and an expert witness. They all basically say the same thing that Circle K had and does still have a policy that requires its employees to purchase accidentally or mistakenly printed lottery tickets that go unsold. And they're there to show that this policy did exist even though it wasn't written down in the employee handbook. So, you know, in order to overcome what's called a motion for summary judgment, which in layman's terms is motion to dismiss the case. We have to show that there is

13:41some evidence of a fact that's, you know, in contra that's in dispute. And this is the main dispute, really, of the entire lawsuit because if it can be shown that Circle K did force its employees to purchase these tickets, they are going to have a tough time proving to a judge or a jury that the sale wasn't valid, that the purchase wasn't valid. And so that's why it's important to have those affidavits. Are they claiming that the $12.8 million prize should ultimately go to Circle K? They're, they're, they're, they have a filing that is due this week. And I would suggest that you look at that filing to see exactly what their position is going to be. So the way that it worked

14:43so far, procedurally, is that Circle K sees the ticket and then filed a motion asking the court for what's called a declaratory judgment to determine who the rightful owner was. Now, of course, reading their motion, you know, it's very clear that, you know, they think they deserve it. But, you know, they haven't addressed our arguments yet. And I don't want to speculate on what they are or are not going to argue before they do it. So you mentioned a little bit about where the case stands right now, but what happens next? So once Circle K responds to our counterclaims and answer this week, the judge will likely set a schedule for deadlines. And the most important deadline is going to be the motion for summary judgment that Circle K is likely going to file. And if

15:46we survive that, the court will then set this case for a jury trial probably sometime early next year. Arizona lottery prizes, typically my understanding is that they have a claim deadline usually. What's happened with the deadline for this ticket in this case is the 12.8 million protected while litigation continues? Yeah, good question. So Arizona does have a statute of limitations, so to speak, on claiming a winning lottery ticket. And that is 180 days or six months. Now Circle K did everybody who's claiming the ticket of favor when they argued successfully that the judge should get rid of the deadline and then require the Arizona lottery to follow the judges instructions. So what that means is there is on a lottery no longer has a deadline in this case

16:48and we'll do whatever the court says regarding the ownership of the ticket. So Robert, well, all of this is happening right now in this process. What's going through your mind? I mean, what are you going through? You mentioned financially, but emotionally and with yourself. Just a lot of prayer. I spent a lot of time with my family. I'm trying to figure out how they get by every single month, how they get through the next month. So applying for jobs, so trying to find something out there that someone will say yes. This has been difficult. And what's the one thing that you want people watching to most understand about what has happened? I was just following corporate policies. I did the right, I was doing the right thing that day. I got to do every other day without work for the company for 17 years. I didn't do anything different.

17:54The only thing that was different that day from the past 17 years is it was a winning lottery ticket. That's the only thing that was different. I just want to clear my name that I was just trying to do the right thing. And if the court ultimately determines that the ticket does belong to you, what would that mean to you? And what would you do with the money? I've been thinking about the money. So the money is the fruit of the thing from my mind right now. This is a very interesting case and I am so appreciative of your time, both of you, Robert and Josh. But is there anything else that you want to say today about this case or your experience, Robert, that I haven't asked about or maybe I don't even know about enough to ask that you just wanted to say today? Well, I think I said that pretty much everything. You know,

18:55just just trying to clear my name. Okay. And Josh, is there anything else you wanted to say today? No, but thank you so much for having us on your awesome show. Much appreciated. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your time and I wish for a quick resolution. So thank you very much. I really appreciate your time today. Thank you, sir. Yeah, thank you. Circle K was contacted for comment and did not respond by the time of publication. That wraps up today's episode of lottery dreams and fortune. Now what did you think of this interview? Join the conversation and comment on the YouTube version of this interview. The link is in the show notes. And if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate this show on your favorite podcast platform. It really helps us reach more listeners and we are extremely grateful. And if you do play the lottery, always play responsibly, never spend more they can afford. Thank you so much for listening today and thank you for your support.