More bad luck for lottery winner After meeting Texas Lottery lawyers, he says their position is that store clerk indicted on lottery fraud charge is the winner.

AUSTIN - Willis Willis, cheated out of a million-dollar jackpot, went to the Texas Lottery Commission on Monday to see if there was a way to get his money.

Instead, his lawyers said, commission attorneys told the 67-year-old Grand Prairie man that they consider the jackpot winner to be a store clerk who was indicted last month and charged with fraudulently claiming the prize.

"The lottery commission for the first time today informed Mr. Willis that they consider the lottery agent who stole his ticket to be the winner of the lottery ... because the clerk who stole the ticket, the agent of the lottery, signed the back of it," said Sean E. Breen, one of his lawyers.

"Let that sink in," Breen added.

He said the commission's general counsel, Kim Kiplin, and two other lawyers refused to answer any of their questions.

Willis said, "I came here with hopes, but the hopes have been dashed now. I didn't think that I would just be told that, you know, 'Too bad, you lose - even though you won.'"

Lottery Commission spokesman Bobby Heith wouldn't answer questions.

"It's the policy of this agency not to discuss any pending litigation," Heith said.

Breen said all available legal action will be taken "to get Mr. Willis the money he rightfully won."

The lottery paid $750,006 to the store clerk, Pankaj Joshi, after taxes. He is considered a fugitive.

Austin police Cpl. Scott Perry said it's the way the lottery system works, which is why officials have advised winners to be sure to sign their tickets. The Austin Police Department is one of the agencies that worked on the case.

"Whoever is bearing the ticket is who gets the prize," Perry said. "The bearer of the ticket is the owner of the ticket, and they only pay the winning prize once. They were presented a ticket they had no idea was fraudulent, and they followed through with their end of the deal."

But that doesn't mean Willis is entirely out of luck. Officials said $365,000 of the money paid to Joshi has been recovered from U.S. banks.

Travis County Assistant District Attorney Patricia H. Robertson, who is prosecuting the case, said her office is working with federal authorities and Interpol to find Joshi and the rest of the money.

"We hope to return the stolen funds to Mr. Willis," she said. "Mr. Willis is the rightful owner of the funds that we seized from Mr. Joshi's accounts."

The case arose after Willis bought the winning Mega Millions ticket May 29 in Grand Prairie, according to Austin police. Willis asked a clerk to check it and two other tickets May 31. He was told he'd won $2.

On June 25, the clerk - identified as Joshi - presented the winning ticket at the lottery commission office in Austin, which validated it and transferred the $750,006 to Joshi's bank account.

After Joshi's co-workers became suspicious of his hitting the jackpot and called the lottery commission, the agency investigated and presented its findings to the district attorney's office in Austin. Joshi was indicted on a charge of claiming a lottery prize by fraud, a felony.

Willis said his plans, assuming he gets his winnings, are simple: Fix some dental problems, pay his bills from a recent hospital stay and provide for the education of his daughter, who intends to go to college.

Lottery watchdog Dawn Nettles, who has The Lotto Report Web site, said problems such as Willis' are the reason she thinks clerks shouldn't be allowed to check whether players' tickets are winners.

"If they're big enough to buy a lottery ticket," Nettles said, "They're big enough to check their own ticket."