Woman sues lottery company for refusing to give $78,800 grand prize over partly-torn ticket

Hoa, 53, is suing the Thua Thien-Hue Lottery Government company to give her the VND2 billion grand prize, the highest prize of the daily's Vietnamese state-issued lottery tickets. The Hue People's Court received her request to sue on Nov. 28, adding that it is looking into it.

Hoa said she often buys lottery tickets, hoping to win a life-changing grand prize. On Oct. 13, she bought two lottery tickets by the Thua Thien-Hue Lottery Government company, each costing VND10,000. She put the tickets in her pockets, but as they were drenched in rainwater, the two tickets got stuck together.

She tried to blow-dry the tickets, but one of them got crumpled and their numbers could not be made out. The other ticket was torn in the bottom, but their numbers and letters stayed intact, Hoa claimed.

On Oct. 14, the Thua Thien-Hue Lottery Government company announced the winning tickets, and Hoa saw that one of her tickets won her VND50 million, while the other won her a grand prize of VND2 billion.

"The next day, I came to get my prize. The company said they were indeed the tickets they issued, but there needs to be the police as a third party to verify it. Once the tickets are verified, the company will hand out the prizes," she said.

On Nov. 4, Hoa and a company employee came to the Thua Thien-Hue police to verify the tickets. The fee for verification was VND12 million, paid by Hoa.

However, when the verification was completed, the company did not announce the results, and only handed her the VND50 million prize.

"The company said the other ticket had been shrunk and distorted, and its bottom-right corner below the numbers were torn away, causing a loss of digits, and so there was not enough basis to determine the ticket’s original state. The torn part of the ticket had affected the criteria to determine the winning ticket," Hoa said.

A partly-torn lottery ticket with digits matching the series to win the top VND2 billion prize. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh

The company also cited regulations from the Ministry of Finance, saying winning tickets must retain their state and shape.

Hoa said that while she did cause the ticket to be torn, but it was done unintentionally. While it was drenched with rainwater, the numbers and letters remained unchanged, and there were smaller inscribed numbers that remained intact.

Hoa came to the Hue People’s Court on Nov. 13 to file her request to sue the company.

Tran Viet Nguyen, president of the Thua Thien-Hue Lottery Government company, said refusing Hoa the prize has been done in accordance with regulations.

"The company will wait for the court to decide on the matter," he said.

Pham Thanh Huu, a lawyer with the HCMC Bar Association, said that Hoa’s ruined ticket should be considered to be due to outside circumstances, in accordance with regulations. If the police have verified that the tickets were neither forged nor modified, it would serve as a basis to determine their status as winning tickets, he added.

*Names of characters have been changed.