LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — A Lake Worth Beach man said his lottery winnings are being wrongly withheld after claims he owes the state money from overpaid funds during the pandemic.
"It could be deducted for thousands, or it could be an accounting error a lot of the times they said," said Justin Aldrin.
WATCH: WPTV speaks to employment attorney for answers
Over the weekend Aldrin said he bought a $10 crossword lottery scratch off from the Orion Fuel Mart & Deli in Lake Worth Beach, which won a prize of $10,000.
"This is huge, this is amazing, I've never won a prize like that," said Aldrin. "It was a very good timing with having a baby on the way."
It's Aldrin and his fiancée's first child, which is due in June.
"We are very happy and we're very excited getting the baby room set up and catching up on bills," he said.
When he went to the lottery office to collect his prize money on Monday, he was told it's being withheld and got a "Special Circumstances Ticket" claiming that he has state owed debt.
It's referring to overpayments by the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) from when he filed for unemployment during the pandemic.
"I lost my job and I had to move from the Keys. I was bartending and a lot of the service industry closed down during the quarantine," said Aldrin.
However Aldrin has paperwork that shows the overpayment issue benefits he received was resolved 3 years ago.
The document reads:
"You are not required to repay this overpayment. You were without fault in creating this overpayment and the department has determined that recovery would be contrary to equity and good conscience. Therefore, the department is waiving recovery of this overpayment. This waiver means you are not required to pay back the overpayment related to this determination."
"So where are we at now, where are we at now?" asked WPTV's Joel Lopez.
"Now I'm waiting for them to call me back anytime from 4-6 weeks," said Aldrin. "It's a bit of a gut punch walking into a lottery office thinking that you won and walk out with nothing."
Lopez reached out to the Florida Lottery who said in an email:
"Unfortunately, we do not have access to the data regarding overpaid unemployment funds, including the number of affected individuals, repayment timelines, or total amounts overpaid during the pandemic." - Florida Lottery, Office of Communications
Lopez also reached out to the DEO but is working to hear back.
He turned to West Palm Beach employment attorney Arthur Schofield for answers who said thousands of Floridians received overpayment.
Schofield said overpayments were a common occurrence during the pandemic.
"It's really a department's error, they were very understaffed, overworked at the time," said Schofield. "Mistakes happened but the State of Florida is going to reconcile their books."
In 2021, WPTV's Dave Bohman reported the overpayment problem was estimated to be in the millions as workers started to receive notices that they had to pay the money back.
WATCH: Florida workers receiving overpayment notices from state
Schofield said if you haven't gotten a notification through your mail or email, you may be cleared from owing money.
For Aldrin, he suggests he check the receipts to make sure the overpayment claims are accurate.
"Is there quick way to see if you do owe money?" asked Lopez.
"I can tell you that trying to contact the department is a frustrating endeavor for all of my clients," said Schofield.
He suggests if you have an issue with a lottery winning, for example, if you feel there was an error, you should challenge it and appeal it if you can.
