How lucky can you get?

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

Like they say, "All you need is a dollar, and a dream." According to NASPL, it's that dream of a lottery win that made millions of Americans buy more than $60 billion worth of tickets last year.  The lotteries cleared almost $18 billion in profit.

The winners get paid, and the states fill their coffers --plugging strained budgets with much-needed cash for everything from education to teacher retirement funds--- even programs to help compulsive gamblers.

Of course, there's a reason the state lotteries make so much money. The odds against winning--- especially in the big games--- are astronomical.

But most people lucky enough to beat those odds collect their prize money without any problems. But not always.

Bob Sehested of Camarillo, Calif. is a regular lottery player.

Bob Sehested: I like to play when it gets over 100 million, cause then you can dream about what you would do if you hit the 100 million, even though you don't expect to.

On Feb. 14, 2006, Bob was like millions of other Americans: Hoping for a little luck.  He was playing the Mega Millions game, a lottery drawing that combines money from twelve states.

The rules are easy: Just pick the same six numbers that come up in the drawing, and you win the jackpot. But the odds doing that are, according to the New York Lotto Web site, 175,711,536 to one. 175 million to one.  Still, somebody eventually wins....and that's why millions of players like Bob keep buying tickets.

Bob Sehested: My 50th birthday, I bought 50 tickets.  Because the lottery prize was $120 million.  So, want to dream a little.

Instead of picking his own numbers, Bob let the computer pick the numbers for him.  Despite the odds, Bob was still dreaming about what he'd do with all that money.

Bob Sehested: Put enough money into the bank that the interest would be enough to survive for the rest of my life.  And then, I could leave it to the kids.

Bob was a regular customer at this store in Camarillo--- about an hour Northwest of Los Angeles.  He was even on a first-name basis with the man behind the counter.

Bob Sehested: The person I bought the ticket from, I saw him almost on a daily basis.  We talked.  We were friendly. 

And the next afternoon, Feb. 15,  at about two-thirty,  he went back to check his tickets.  That same clerk had big news.

Bob Sehested: Told me someone hit the $500,000 in the store.

Video   Retailer claims to be a winner Web exclusive: This lotto retailer tells an undercover agent that he won $1,000. Dateline NBC

One of their customers had picked 5 of the six numbers correctly--- and had won the second prize. Not the jackpot of 120 million --but still a hefty sum--- a bit more tham $530,000.The clerk knew that because the lottery computer had already told him that the  second prize ticket had been sold in his store-- but no one knew who the winner was.

Still hopeful, Bob used a machine in the store to scan his tickets.  You just slide the bar code under the scanner, and it tells you if you're a winner or not. Most of Bob's tickets were no good... but one ticket flashed a different message.

Bob Sehested: All it said on one of my tickets was "Congratulations.  See retailer." And again, no one expects to win. Sure, you're heart races, cause you know someone won the half a million dollars.

The scanner only told him he had a winning ticket--but not how much he'd won. To find out he had to give it to the clerk who'd check it on his lottery computer.   What did the clerk tell him?

Bob Sehested: And they tell you won four dollars.

Four bucks. Not the big winner--- but at least enough to play the game a few more times.  So he told the agent:

Bob Sehested: Okay, give me four more tickets.  I'll see you later.  And go on with your life.

And where was the winner of that $500,000 prize? Six weeks passed, and the Lottery still hadn't announced a winner. That's when Bob happened to be looking at the local newspaper's Web site.

Bob Sehested: And they have a video.  They're looking for the winner in Camareo.

Video   Lotto clerk denies everything This lotto clerk denies any wrongdoing even when confronted with taped evidence. Dateline NBC

It was store security video of a man buying what turned out to be that $500,000 ticket on the morning of the drawing—Feb. 14.

Bob Sehested: Now I knew the store the ticket was bought in. I clicked on the link to-- to see.  You know, maybe I know the person.  And I could contact 'em and-- and let them know they won.

That video could help lottery officials identify the winner-- because their computers told them the winning ticket was purchased at exactly 2:20 p.m. 

And who did Bob see on that video coming into the store right at that time?  His wife!

Bob Sehested: She was walking through. I said, "That's Wendy."  And then, I backed up, blew up the screen.  And I said, "that's me."

But if Bob was the winner, where was his $500,000?

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