Lottery 'misprints' cost man $135,000

TORONTO, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A Toronto-area man who won $135,000 on four scratch-off lottery tickets has been told they were printing mistakes, and he won't be given the prizes.

Thomas Noftall, 27, told the Toronto Sun he scratched the four tickets on New Years's Eve and was ecstatic to see his winnings.

He contacted the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. in Toronto by telephone, and a claims representative said he would be paid, but that he had to come to the lottery headquarters, the Sun said.

That's when Noftall's luck turned sour.

"One guy pulled me into his office and said, 'Between me and you, they're going to void your tickets. They're not going to pay,'" Noftall told the newspaper.

A lottery spokesman told the Sun there were 1,000 misprinted tickets distributed throughout the province.

Noftall didn't disclose his intentions concerning the tickets.

"I've gone from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in the past few days," he said.