An Arizona Circle K manager is at the center of a legal wrangling with his employers after he bought a customer's unclaimed lottery ticket and scooped a $12.8 million jackpot.
Robert Gawlitza, 44, allegedly purchased the ticket on November 25, 2025, after realizing it contained the winning numbers.
The ticket was printed at the Scottsdale location after a customer ordered 85 tickets but only paid for 60, according to the lawsuit filed on February 18 and obtained by AZ Family.
The tickets were left untouched at the store overnight on November 24, 2025, but by the time Gawlitza returned to work the next day, he discovered that his store had sold the winning 'The Pick' ticket, per the filings.
He then clocked out and changed out of his uniform before reentering the store to buy the leftover tickets from a fellow employee for just $10, the lawsuit states.
Circle K claimed that Gawlitza scanned through all of the remaining tickets before finding the lucky winner.
He signed the back of the ticket, but never got the chance to cash it in, according to 12News, per the filing.
Circle K management said it was alerted that a winner had been bought at one of their locations.
A customer at the Scottsdale Circle K (pictured) printed out a winning ticket but did not purchase it
Robert Gawlitza allegedly scooped up the winning 'The Pick' ticket, which was the key to a $12 million prize
They took the ticket and held it at their corporate offices until the rightful winner could be decided.
The court now must rule on who is the rightful owner of the massive prize, which was the fourth largest in 'The Pick's' history, reported Newsweek.
The lottery game pulls six random numbers to indicate the lucky winner. The winning digits that day were 3, 13, 14, 15, 19, 26, reported the New York Post.
In the filing, Circle K cited Arizona Administrative Codes on the state lottery program as the reason the company may be the rightful owner of the winning ticket.
'If a retailer accepts a returned draw game ticket from a player or generates a draw game ticket refused by the player and the retailer does not resell the ticket, the lottery shall deem the draw game ticket to be owned by the retailer,' the code said.
Both Gawlitza and the Arizona Lottery are named in the filing.
According to AZ Central, Arizona Lottery rules don't stop employees from buying lottery tickets.
It is unclear what Circle K's policy is on the matter, but the clock on the decision is ticking.
Arizona state law requires winners to claim a prize pot within 180 days of the winning number being drawn.
That means the Maricopa Superior Court has until May to decide who the ticket, drawn in November, belongs to.
In a statement obtained by People, a representative for Circle K said they are 'committed to doing the right thing and maintaining a strong, transparent partnership with the Arizona Lottery.'
'That commitment is precisely why we have asked the court how best to proceed under these unique circumstances,' they said.
Representatives for Circle K gave a statement to 12News amid the legal chaos, clarifying that the lawsuit was not 'against any particular party.'
'It is a declaratory judgment complaint filed to seek clarity from the court to determine rightful ownership of this lottery ticket,' they said.
Arizona Lottery called it a 'unique situation.'
'We are not aware of any prior litigation of this sort involving the Arizona Lottery,' said Public Information Officer Cydeni Carter.
The Daily Mail contacted Circle K, Gawlitza, Arizona Lottery and the Maricopa Superior Court for comment.