Harvest woman files suit over 'test' lottery numbers

[Champ]

She said the state participates in the Powerball drawing along with 29 jurisdictions, with the drawings taking place in Iowa every Wednesday and Saturday at 9:59 p.m.

"As soon as the numbers are verified, we post them on our voice mail systems and put them on our Web site," said Gerlock.

She could not say what was on the recording on April 21, 2004, when Davis made her call around midnight.

But in a letter to Susan McGowan, a Fayetteville, Tenn., lawyer who contacted the company for Davis, Andrew Morin, vice president of legal services for the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., did address the recording Davis heard.

In the letter, dated July 29, 2004, Morin said the lottery company had recorded the "numbers 1-2-3-4-5 and the Powerball number of 6" to test the voice system before Tennessee's participation in the Powerball drawing.

In fact, Tennessee's first involvement in the Powerball drawing was that April 21, the date Davis bought her $1 ticket in Ardmore, Tenn. She chose a sequence of numbers she had used many times in other states where she has played the Powerball lottery.

When she called about midnight on April 21, Davis would not have been able to "access the winning numbers" from that night's drawing, said Morin.

He said no one can claim a lottery prize without presenting the original winning ticket for validation, and her ticket was not a winner.

All that is beside the point to Davis, who feels the Tennessee Lottery owes her money for the letdown she had when she found out she hadn't won the Powerball drawing.

She's not expecting $90 million, she said, but an apology won't be good enough.
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