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Date Published: 28/07/2021

ARCHIVED - Cartagena Lottery outlet closed after owner stole winning ticket for himself

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The owner of the Cartagena store was sentenced to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay compensation to the customer

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Cartagena Lottery outlet closed after owner stole winning ticket for himself

A lottery store on Calle Serreta in Cartagena has been provisionally closed by the public body Loterías y Apuestas del Estado after the owner kept a customer’s winning ticket worth €55,733. The accused has been handed a custodial sentence of 18 months and a fine of €1,200, in addition to being ordered to pay compensation of €20,000 and the court costs of his customer.

The court heard that the customer presented a ticket for the March 30, 2019 draw and that the owner of the shop checked it on the office verification machine. He informed the customer that the ticket was not a winner and kept it for himself. It took almost a week for the victim to realise he had been cheated out of his prize, at which time he denounced the defendant and a police investigation was launched.

While the shop owner claimed that it had simply been an oversight, and his legal team argued that there could have been a malfunction in the validating machine, technicians from Loterías y Apuestas del Estado told the court that there was no evidence of any failure in the equipment, and that the ticket in question had in fact been checked several times that day. Security footage in the store also showed that the owner had erased the verification of the prize money.

The €55,733 was awarded to the rightful owner on July 4 and the owner of the shop was sentenced on July 13. The closed lottery establishment had been in operation for more than 50 years and had sold several winning tickets in the past, the most recent in October 2018.

Image: Loterías y Apuestas del Estado