Should she have to give the money back?

[KellyMarie]

This is huge news in my state and I am kind of annoyed that Sharon Jones has to give all the money back. had she not claimed the prize, Duncan would have never even known. I am sorry, but I feel Duncan should give her half the prize money, just my opinion. I would not be able to sleep at night if I didn't!

"It's My Money" Says Arkansas Woman Awarded $1M in Lottery Dispute


The Arkansas woman who was awarded a $1 million prize by a judge in a dispute over a winning lottery ticket has no sympathy for the woman who originally claimed the money -- and now says she is unable to pay it all back.

"I don't feel bad for her,'' Sharon Duncan told TODAY's Ann Curry Friday. "It's my money. I deserve the money, not her.''

[Click here to watch this interview].

Ticket in the trash
In July, Sharon Jones claimed the $1 million prize after saying she found the winning ticket in a bin for discarded tickets in a convenience store in Beebe. Jones has said she regularly took tickets out of the bin to redeem them for secondary prizes, usually toys for her grandchildren, and she and her husband discovered one of the tickets was a winner. She figured her good fortune was simply a case of finders keepers, a treasure fished out of the trash.

Story: 2 Arkansas women fight to claim $1M lotto ticket

However, the convenience store owner and manager and the original ticket owner, Sharon Duncan, sued Jones. They claimed that Duncan deserved the winnings because, when she originally scanned the ticket on the machine, it told her it was a losing ticket so she unknowingly discarded the prize-winner.

Last week, a judge ruled that Duncan was the rightful owner of the ticket and deserves the prize money, which he ordered Jones to pay back. But Jones and her husband claim they have already spent about $190,000 of the $680,000 they were awarded after taxes and are unable to pay back the money because neither of them is currently employed. Jones and her attorney are appealing the ruling.

Story: She may have to return $680K from trashed lottery ticket

Duncan's attorney, Steve Underwood, initially proposed sharing the winnings between the two parties, but told NBC News that a settlement could not be reached.

'Sorry, not a winner'
There is surveillance video from the store obtained by Duncan's lawyer showing her scanning the ticket. "If that would've said, 'Winner,' well I would've kept my ticket, but it said, 'Sorry not a winner,''' Duncan said of the machine through which she scanned the disputed ticket. "On the ticket bin, (Jones) shouldn't have been in there no ways because it said 'Do not take.'''

For her part, Jones claims that the discarded tickets were in a garbage can that she regularly fished old tickets from without any convenience store employees interfering. Store manager Lisa Petriches, one of the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the bin was not a trash can but a ticket bin that gave Petriches the rights to any discarded tickets. But Jones and her attorney claim that there was no sign above the can indicating that patrons could not take old tickets from the 13-gallon bin until after the lawsuit was filed.

The Arkansas Lottery Commission has stated that its machine was not malfunctioning in any way on the day Duncan said it told her the $1 million ticket was a loser. Duncan claims she scanned the ticket two or three times as she normally does with any ticket.

"I trust the machine, so I discarded the ticket,'' she said.

Duncan was in shock when Petriches told her that Jones had claimed the $1 million prize from a ticket Duncan had thrown away.

"I had a heart attack right then when she told me,'' Duncan said. "I got upset about that.''

"It was her ticket, and I thought she deserved her money,'' Petriches said.

Duncan does not plan on sharing any of the winnings with Petriches despite the fact that Petriches alerted her to what had happened.

"It's my money,'' Duncan said. "I think I deserve it.''

[bnkkey]

Duncan sounds selfish to me....they should split it

[stlcouponwizard]

Seems like the laday should be going after the company that maintains the machine rather than the trash diva. I personally never trust nor use the machine checker, Machines are only as smart as the person building and manitaining them.If the gal trashed the ticket she no longer see any worth in it and gave up her rights to it unless she put in her own trash can. Granted she was mis lead by the machine so go after them.

[Delissa]

I agree with Neal. if there is video of her checking it on a machine than the machine's company should pay the difference to the lady who bought the ticket and what the second lady spent should just be forgiven.

[KarrenOliver]

[Heather]

I think the lady that found the ticket should get something, too. Doesn't seem right that the other lady threw it away and now she gets it. I would be so mad if that was me that found it! I agree with Neal the makers of the machine should have to pay the lady!!

[Allison]

I think the lady who found the ticket so get to keep the winnings. How do those saying go? "Finders keepers, losers weepers" and "One man's trash is another man's treasure". If she is going after anyone it should be the company that makes those ticket checkers.

[adnil]

I think the lady who found the ticket so get to keep the winnings. How do those saying go? "Finders keepers, losers weepers" and "One man's trash is another man's treasure". If she is going after anyone it should be the company that makes those ticket checkers.

I agree with Allison, If I buy something and decide I no longer need/want it, and I through it in the trash it is no longer mine, by throwing any item in the trash a person gives up any and all rights to it. I think the lady that threw the ticket away is a selfish person, and like DH said, how were they able to PROVE that the said ticket was actually hers? Besides it was in a trash can with a multiple amount of other tickets. It's no wonder that the society of the world has become such a sad thing, especially when you see things like this happening all the time. I feel sorry for the couple that got took to court over this, they turned the ticket in with innocence on their part and are now having to pay for that innocence {to me THAT is the crime being committed here}.