Posted: 10:02 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17, 2015

Brevard County man says lottery refuses to pay winning ticket

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Brevard County man said he had a winning lottery ticket only to have the state deny him his winnings.

 

Robert Klosterman said he is owed $1,000 for a scratch-off ticket he bought in June at a Shell gas station on Fay Boulevard in Cocoa.

 

Klosterman, 68, said he thought June 2 was a lucky day for him, but that it turned out otherwise.

 

"I don't want to call them idiots, but they are. They are bureaucrats," Klosterman said

 

Klosterman said when he tried to cash in his ticket at the Florida Lottery office, workers there claimed it was forged.

 

"I kept my cool. I was in the lottery office. After they explained to me, I walked out.  (I) fumed a little bit, didn't say anything to anybody and just drove back to Cocoa," Klosterman said.

 

Klosterman said as soon as he won he signed the ticket, but the pen was out of ink.  So he used another pen to clean up his signature.  That is why he said officials believe the signature was forged.

 

"I've known him for at least 10 years and he is one of our biggest customers," Shell gas station owner Samir Patel said. "As long as he can prove that is his ticket, he should be able to get his money back."

 

Florida Lottery officials told Channel 9 that they are looking into Klosterman's claim.

 

Klosterman said he would like for them to hurry up, saying he's been waiting more than two months for his winnings.

 

"That ticket is probably in his in-basket and it's going to stay there until they teach me a lesson,  that they are powerful and I am a nobody," Klosterman said.