A rural mail carrier from the western Iowa town of Harlan has found his good fortune with an Iowa Lottery TouchPlay machine resulted in bad fortune at work. Lee Schechinger was fired by the U.S. Postal Service after he won one-thousand-dollars on a TouchPlay Lottery machine in March.
Schechinger says he put three-dollars into a TouchPlay machine during a lunch break at the Logan Country Store and won a one-thousand-dollar jackpot. According to state employment records, Schechinger allegedly denied the incident when asked about it by supervisors, but he later admitted to what happened.
The Postal Service fired Schechinger in late April, saying that employees are prohibited from gambling while in uniform or while on duty, even during breaks. Schechinger has appealed his dismissal; a ruling on the appeal is expected within two months. The TouchPlay machine Schechinger won his jackpot on is the type that was later banned by the state legislature.