Circle K is Suing a Store Manager for Trying to Buy Unclaimed Winning Arizona Lottery Ticket

Circle K is suing an employee for trying to buy an unclaimed winning lottery ticket from one of its stores.

Circle K

Summary of What Happened at an Arizona Circle K with the Lottery Tickets

Here's what happened:

A Circle K manager noticed that a winning Arizona Lottery ticket was lying around the store, and he bought it “as a customer” after he found out it had the winning numbers. His employer — Circle K — wants to keep all $12.8 million , which would be the fourth-largest jackpot won in Arizona since 2019.

The Full Details of the Circle K Story

Here’s what happened in Maricopa County, according to 12News:

A customer entered the Circle K at 5601 E. Bell Road in Scottsdale, Arizona, on November 24, 2025, and asked for lottery tickets to be printed.

The store manager, Robert Gawlitza, printed $85 worth of tickets; however, the customer only paid for $60 worth of the tickets, leaving the remaining $25 worth of tickets on the counter “available for sale” at the convenience store.

That night, the Arizona Lottery announced the winning numbers, and these tickets were still sitting in the store.

On the morning of November 25, 2025, Gawlitza noticed that one of the tickets had the winning numbers of 3, 13, 14, 15, 19, and 26, meaning that it was worth a winning cash payout of $12.6 million.

He then “clocked out” as an employee of Circle K and purchased the abandoned lottery tickets from another Circle K employee.

After the sale, Circle K management “was alerted to the winning ticket,” and the company requested that the winning ticket be kept in the head office for safekeeping until a judge decides who the rightful owner of the ticket is.

The winner of the ticket must claim the cash prize by May 23, 2026.

Reader Poll: Who do you think should be entitled to the winning lottery ticket?

Sources

Simchuk, Kyle. “Lawsuit: Circle K employee buys lottery ticket worth millions the day after the drawing.” 12news.com. 20 Feb. 2026.

Walcott, Escher. “Arizona Store Clerk Sued for Trying to Cash in $12.8 Million Lottery Ticket Left Behind by a Customer.” People.com. 22 Feb. 2026.

*****

Opinion Editorial:

Here is a thought of why Gawlitza should be able to keep the winning lottery ticket and claim the winnings.

The manager should be allowed to keep the $12.8 million winning ticket because the purchase was made as a private individual, not as a representative of Circle K. If he had clocked out and completed the transaction using his own money, then the ticket was a personal purchase, just like any other customer buying a ticket from the Arizona Lottery. Employment at a store does not automatically transfer ownership of personal property to the employer, especially when the employee followed standard purchasing procedures and paid with personal funds. Denying him the prize would set a troubling precedent suggesting that workers lose basic individual rights simply because of where they work. A lottery is based on chance, and if the ticket was legally purchased, fairness and common sense support allowing the manager — not the corporation — to claim the winnings.

Email Notice to Consumers Who Made Payments Through the Google Play Store

The following is a legitimate email sent out to eligible class action lawsuit members regarding the $630 million Google Play settlement. 

Google Play $630 Million Class Action Settlement

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
State of Utah, et al. v. Google LLC, et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-05227-JD

NOTICE OF STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL SETTLEMENT

Notice ID: 332212040

ATTENTION: CONSUMERS WHO MADE PAYMENTS THROUGH THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE

THIS IS A COURT-APPROVED NOTICE AND NOT A SOLICITATION FROM A LAWYER

Please read this Notice carefully. You are receiving this Notice because you may have paid for an app through the Google Play Store or paid for in-app content (including purchases in gaming apps, subscriptions, and ad-free versions of apps) through Google Play Billing between August 16, 2016, and September 30, 2023 (a "Qualifying Purchase"). For example, if you paid to download a game or made a purchase in an app downloaded from the Google Play Store, you may have important rights concerning the State Attorneys General lawsuit described below.

A proposed settlement has been reached in a consumer protection and antitrust lawsuit brought by the Attorneys General of all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands ("State Attorneys General") against Google (the "Action").

The State Attorneys General claim that consumers paid too much to Google for apps and for purchases made in apps downloaded from the Google Play Store because Google monopolized app distribution on certain Android devices and in-app billing services. The State Attorneys General also claim that by monopolizing app distribution, Google reduced consumers' choices in apps. The State Attorneys General also claim that Google made misrepresentations to the public concerning the risks of getting apps from sources other than the Google Play Store and Google's billing policies for apps. Google denies any wrongdoing and denies the allegations in the Complaint.

The State Attorneys General brought this lawsuit in their parens patriae* capacity, on behalf of consumers who made Qualifying Purchases through Google Play Billing between August 16, 2016, and September 30, 2023, while living in any State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands.

As part of the settlement, a $630 million Settlement Fund will be established. The Fund will be used to pay consumers who made at least one Qualifying Purchase, as well as the costs of administering the Fund and attorneys' fees. Your share of the Fund will be at least $2 and may be more based on how much you paid for apps through the Google Play Store or for in-app content through Google Play Billing between August 16, 2016, and September 30, 2023, compared to the amount paid by all other consumers who made Qualifying Purchases.

You are receiving this Notice because Google's internal records show that you may have made a Qualifying Purchase using a Google payments profile with a "Legal Address" located in one of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands.

If the "Legal Address" listed in your Google payments profile at the time you made a Qualifying Purchase is in one of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands, then you are a member of this Action and you are eligible to receive a payment from the Settlement Fund.

If you are covered by this Action, you may not have to do anything to receive a payment from the Settlement Fund. The Settlement Fund will make the majority of payments automatically, and no claim form is necessary in most cases. Once the Settlement has been approved by the Court, you will receive an email from PayPal or a text from Venmo notifying you of your incoming payment at the email address or mobile phone number associated with your Google Play account. If that email address or phone number is also associated with a PayPal or Venmo account, then the payment will be made directly to that account. If that email address or phone number does not match an email address or phone number associated with a PayPal or Venmo account, then you have the option to create a new account or redirect the payment to a PayPal or Venmo account at another email address or phone number.

If you (a) do not have an existing PayPal or Venmo account and do not want to sign up for PayPal or Venmo, (b) no longer have access to the email address or mobile phone number associated with your Google Play account, or (c) were expecting to receive a payment but did not, there will be a supplemental claims process after the automatic payments process is complete.

If you would like to be notified by email when the supplemental claims process starts, you may submit your name, email address, and mobile phone number at www.GooglePlayStateAGAntitrustLitigation.com.

By receiving money, you will give up any rights to sue, or continue to sue, Google separately over the claims at issue in this Action.

Objections to the $630 Class Action Google Play Lawsuit

If you want to object to the Settlement, then you must file a written objection on or before February 19, 2026. To learn more about the process for making objections, go to www.GooglePlayStateAGAntitrustLitigation.com.

If you do not want to receive a payment from the Settlement Fund and you want to bring your own case against Google, then you must submit a request to be excluded on or before February 19, 2026. To learn more about or to submit a request for exclusion, go to www.GooglePlayStateAGAntitrustLitigation.com.

An administrator appointed by the Court is sending this Summary Notice. To view the full Notice approved by the Court, and for more information about the Action, including certain important Court filings, go to www.GooglePlayStateAGAntitrustLitigation.com or contact the Notice Administrator at 1-866-905-8127 or by email to info@GooglePlayStateAGAntitrustLitigation.com.

BY ORDER OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The preceding email refers to a website, but doesn't ask you to take any action to join the class action lawsuit, because they already know who has a Google Play account and who is eligible.

That is a big indicator that this is a real and legitimate email. 

California Man Arrested After Leaving 'Human Skin' Teddy Bear Outside a Convenience Store in Prank Gone Wrong

A California man was arrested after a prank that went very wrong. He claimed to have left a "human skin teddy bear" outside of a convenience store on Sunday, July 13, 2025. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene to investigate the teddy bear.

California man arrested after claiming to leave a human skin teddy bear outside a convenience store

'Human Skin Teddy Bear' was a 'Macabre Prank' Outside Convenience Store

ABC7 News reported that a California man left a "human skin teddy bear" outside of an AMPM convenience store on Bear Valley Road in Victorville on Sunday, July 13, 2025. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene to investigate the strange teddy bear that was left on the ground outside the convenience store.

A zoomed-in image of the bear can be seen below.

Human skin teddy bear outside Victorville convenience store

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department: 'No Human Remains' Found on Teddy Bear

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department determined that there was not actually any "human remains" or "human skin" on the teddy bear. The claim was utterly false, and the police arrested 23-year-old Hector Corona Villanueva, and booked him for a report of an emergency while knowing that it was intentionally false and for planting evidence under the pretense that it was real. 

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department issued a statement about this incident, stating:

"Incidents such as this take up valuable emergency resources and put the public at risk, possibly delaying response time to legitimate calls for service. We would like to thank those that reported information that was helpful during the investigation of this case."

What was the 'Human Skin' Teddy Bear covered with?

The teddy bear was not made out of human skin. It was made out of latex.

ABC7 Eyewitness News spoke to Robert Kelly of Dark Seed Creations, an artist from South Carolina, who said that he made the teddy bear, and it was not made out of human skin, but out of latex. He confirmed that he did ship one of the bears he made out of latex to Victorville. He assumed it was just a routine order; however, he started to receive many calls when fans of his work started calling him on Sunday after recognizing one of his bears.

Kelly said:

"I guess I'd probably be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it a little bit. You know, I'm an independent artist, so you know, I know what starving artist life feels like. So, a little attention is sometimes good regardless of not being able to condone whatever. I mean, I don't know if the guy broke any laws or it was just a prank, but it looks like he definitely got some people riled up." -Robert Kelly, Dark Seed Creations artist

His human skin teddy bear normally retails for $165 on his Etsy website. 

As of the date of publication, the human skin teddy bear was sold out.

Another True Story about a Teddy Bear Containing Ashes

An Alabama woman was driving around and saw a teddy bear on a garbage pile. She stops and grabs it to bring it home to her dog as a chew toy. When she and her daughter get home, they discover the teddy bear has ashes inside of it along with a secret note.

Read the full story here.

Atlanta Man Pays $9k for Shed from Home Depot in Cartersville, GA & Nothing Happens for 52 Days

An Atlanta man purchased a shed from Home Depot in Cartersville, GA for $9,058.03 and after not hearing anything from them for 52 days, he wondered when he would receive his shed. 

11Alive News reported that Atlanta resident Warren Kale found a tool shed he liked for his backyard at a Home Depot in Cartersville, GA. He paid $9,058.03 for the shed with his debit card and thought he would hear back from Home Depot that week, but he did not.

Home Depot Told Customer: 'Your Money Went Somewhere, but We Don't Know Where'

52 days had passed and he had not heard from them, so he went back to the Cartersville Home Depot store to find out what had happened.

According to Kale, the store told him "there was a glitch in the computer," and that "his money had gone somewhere, but they didn't know where."

Kale continued to wait for 52 days, and nothing happened, so he was concerned that he would not be able to get a refund. He went to his bank, and then he went to 11Allive News.

After 11Alive News got involved and contacted both Home Depot and Ameris Bank, finally the bank refunded Kale $9,058.03 back into his account.

While this was an ordeal for Kale, he was determined to get his tool shed. He went back to Home Depot and repurchased the shed, and it is now fully assembled in his backyard.

The YouTube video can be watched below.

YouTube Video: A Metro Atlanta Man Bought a $9K Tool Shed from Home Depot

Source: 11Alive News

Reader poll: Do you think that this customer should have gone elsewhere after going through so much trouble?

An Instacart Shopper Takes an Order for 60 Boxes of 'Pot Ready' Spaghetti From Food Lion but They Don't Have it

An Instacart shopper takes on an unusual order to pick up a lot of spaghetti from Food Lion, but their shelves are bare for the particular type of spaghetti.

Spaghetti tied in a bundle

One Instacart shopper had to learn the hard way when he took a strange order, not knowing if it was a joke or for real.

TikToker Posts a Video About an Experience

TikToker @instacartier1 

An Instacart shopper documented his experience on TikTok after taking an unusually large order of spaghetti for a customer to be picked up from Food Lion.

User @instacartier1 posted in a TikTok video that the order would require him to drive 16 miles to the grocery store, and he would earn $16.69 batch earnings before a tip.

According to Daily Dot, the instacart shopper was skeptical about the order, and they didn't initially respond to his communications to get more information.

He then called Food Lion to ask them to start preparing the 60 boxes of spaghetti, but they informed him of the bad news: They didn't get a delivery truck in that day, and he would have to accept whatever they had on the shelves.

So he drove to Food Lion, and the worst-case scenario happened.

Food Lion Was Out of the 'Pot Ready' Spaghetti

He said:

“So I get there, and there’s not a single box on the shelf. So I message this woman, and I’m like ‘Hey, there’s none of these boxes here. Do you want Mueller’s [brand]? It’s 50 cents more a box,’ and she goes, ‘Well, is it pot ready?”’

The Instacart shopper then has to ask, "What is pot-ready spaghetti?"

He does a search online and finds out from retailer H-E-B online that pot-ready spaghetti is shorter and fits within a pot without having to break the pasta.

Pot-ready spaghetti is "half of the length of standard spaghetti," but only Mueller brand was available, and it was not "pot ready."

He decided to not buy any pasta and posted a video about it on 19 August 2024.

He also shared that there was a second order along this route, and the customer ended up tipping him $8.39 for a different grocery order.

Do you think Instacart shoppers should get tipped for their time, even if the store does not have the groceries?

Review: Coup is a Fun Game App in the Google Play Store

Want to know a fun game app in the Google Play store?

Over the holidays, I discovered a game in the Google Play store: the game Coup.

Coup app icon

The app is available in the Google Play store is based on a board game of deception and manipulation. This app game is essentially a card game, and is all about bluffing, and learning how to bluff successfully.

The game is free to download. There are in-game purchases available, but not necessary to play.

The game consists of five character cards:

1. Duke card - the Duke draws a tax of 3 coins, and cannot be blocked or challenged.
2. Captain card - the Captain can steal 2 coins, and can be blocked by the the Captain or Ambassador card.
3. Contessa card - Contessa can block an Assassination
4. Assassin card - in exchange for 3 coins, the Assassin can attempt an assassination. The Assassin can be blocked by only Contessa character card.
5. Ambassador card - the Ambassador can exchange 1 or 2 cards from the player's hand, and allow the player to choose from the next 2 cards drawn

Coup Gameplay

Each player has a total of 15 cards in the deck. Each character appears 3 times in the deck The player is drawn 2 random cards to start with in their hand.

You then can bluff or truthfully choose how you want to play based on the character cards' abilities, or you can draw 1 coin if you choose. There is a motivation to get to 7 coins. Once you reach 7 coins, you can press the "Coup" button, and force the player to reveal 1 card. A Coup cannot be blocked.

If you have an Assassin, you must have 3 coins in order to use the Assassin card.

You have 1:30 to play your turn, unless you are in a challenge period.

If you choose to only tell the truth, then logic could reveal your cards to the other player.

After you successfully accomplish certain tasks, the game awards you with badges that you can display on your Coup profile picture.

Coup Tips

1. Plan on bluffing. The game requires you to bluff to be successful.
2. If you do not have the Duke, but want to collect tax, start bluffing in Round 1 (your first turn)
3. If you have a card, but want the other player to think your bluffing, play it at an odd time
4. If you are in a challenge period of 30 sec., you can hesitate to play, but it will look like you do not have the card if you do this. You can hesitate to make the other player think you don't have the card.
5. You can use chat features to communicate pre-selected phrases and taunts to the other player. Use these strategically while playing.

Screenshot of Coup app

Disclaimer: The author of this blog post was not paid in any way for this blog post, and wrote it out of pure interest.