[Trudel]

Ohio Lottery answers $162-million question
Last Updated Tue, 06 Jan 2004 12:14:21
CLEVELAND - A telecommunications worker is the winner of a $162-million lottery jackpot, and not a person who claimed to have lost the ticket, Ohio Lottery officials said Tuesday.

Rebecca Jemison, who claimed her prize at a news conference, will take home an after-tax lump sum of $67 million US.

Jemison said she's played the numbers occasionally over two years and was angry to hear that someone else claimed to have bought and lost the winning ticket.

Elecia Battle, 40, went to police last week saying she lost the ticket outside the Cleveland store where she says she bought it.

The Ohio Lottery has said that whoever turns in the winning ticket of the Mega Millions multistate jackpot is legally entitled to the winnings because the ticket is considered to be a bearer note. Lottery spokesperson Mardele Cohen said that makes the ticket "like cash."

Battle's lawyer said the ticket belongs to Battle, and argued that it was lost property.

Battle filed a police report Friday, saying she realized the ticket was missing when the numbers were announced last Tuesday.

Battle told police the numbers represented family birthdays and ages.

Police said Battle's information about the ticket, when the ticket was bought and how the numbers were picked made her story credible.