$50,000 Plus Interest : ‘Instant Winner’ Will Collect Winnings After 1-Year Fight

A Northridge man who has been struggling for nearly a year to collect $50,000 on a winning lottery ticket he mailed in the wrong envelope got word Wednesday that he will get the money in a month.

But Emil Nicholas was not jumping for joy.

“I’ll believe it after I get it, not before,” said Nicholas, 55. “This has been such a hassle.”

A check for $51,000--the prize plus interest--will be issued soon, said California Lottery spokesman John Schade.

But Nicholas will not keep it all. A third is promised as a legal fee to Encino attorney Robert D. Rentzer, who filed a claim for Nicholas on June 6.

“I’m glad that the instant winner is going to get his money before he dies of old age,” Rentzer said.

The $51,000 was included in an annual State Board of Control bill, which became law March 28, that provided $7.8 million to pay off 550 claims against various state agencies, Schade said.

Nicholas, an interior designer, said he plans to use what is left of the money to paint and put a new roof on his house.

He bought the winning ticket last April 29 at Marv’s Deli in North Hollywood. But he accidentally sent his “instant winner” ticket in an envelope marked for the weekly “Big Spin” drawing, so the ticket probably ended up buried in a landfill with losing Big Spin tickets, officials said.

Nicholas learned of his error three weeks later when he called the lottery office in Sacramento to ask when his $50,000 would arrive.

Nicholas said he could not get lottery officials to answer subsequent telephone calls until he hired Rentzer. Lottery officials insisted for months that payment was impossible without a ticket.

What saved Nicholas, lottery officials said, was that he could show state investigators a losing ticket with a serial number next in sequence to the winning ticket. He had bought both tickets at the same time.

The Board of Control, which judges claims against state agencies, recommended in August that California Lottery officials pay Nicholas. The Legislature usually follows the board’s recommendations on claims.

Rentzer credited state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) with pushing to include Nicholas’ money in the claims bill.