Lottery Will Pay $50,000, and He’s Mad

Scratching off a $50,000 ticket in the California Lottery sounds like the break of a lifetime--unless you mail it in the wrong envelope. Ask Emil Nicholas.

The 55-year-old Northridge resident incorrectly sent his “instant winner” ticket in an envelope earmarked for the weekly “Big Spin” drawing, lottery officials said.

A two-month struggle to collect the money followed, but Nicholas finally got some good news this week when lottery officials said that they will recommend that the state pay his claim.

Nicholas, an interior decorator, is still bitter.

Lawyer to Get a Third

Even if the lottery pays him the $50,000, Nicholas will end up giving one-third of it to the lawyer he hired to help press his claim, he said.

“That’s great--why couldn’t they do that before I got the lawyer?” Nicholas said angrily, when told by a reporter of the lottery officials’ decision. “That did not have to take two to three months.”

Nicholas said he could not even get lottery officials to answer his phone calls until he hired Encino attorney Robert D. Rentzer, who filed a claim June 6.

Must Have Ticket

Until last week, lottery officials had insisted that Nicholas could not collect the $50,000 without the ticket, even though he had photocopies of it, witnesses who saw him purchase it and serial numbers to bolster his claim.

Then, however, officials using lottery computers found proof of a winning $50,000 ticket with the serial numbers Nicholas claimed, spokesman Robert Taylor said.

The evidence and recommendation will be presented next week to the state Board of Control, which adjudicates claims filed against all state agencies.