Dispute Halts Paying of Lottery Jackpot

Paraskeve Kantges played the same lottery numbers week after week for 20 years without winning big. The 72-year-old Cambridge woman’s lengthy dry streak finally appeared to have ended Feb. 5, however, when she found her lucky numbers matched the $22-million jackpot. She then went to the corner store to pick up the $1 tickets with the numbers she had phoned in. When she got there, the owner of the store gave her receipts of the 95 tickets she bought that week, but the winning ticket was missing, she said. The owner, Nick Haven, insists she never placed the winning bet. The disagreement has prompted the Massachusetts Lottery to stall payment to anyone who tries to claim it, and now the attorney general’s office is investigating. A judge also barred the lottery from paying until the investigation is complete.