Brazil's Attorney General's Office (AGU) confirms in court that lottery winners have 90 days to claim their prize.

The deadline for a bettor to claim a Mega-Sena prize is up to 90 days after the draw. This ruling was confirmed by the Attorney General's Office (AGU) before the National Panel for the Uniformization of Federal Special Courts.
The action occurred after a bettor from Minas Gerais took legal action to receive a prize after the deadline established by law. He stated that he placed the bet on November 21, 2014, but that the ticket was lost. The receipt was only found on March 5, 2015, when he verified that he had matched five numbers in the lottery (Quina).
Upon arriving at a Caixa Econômica Federal branch to claim the R$ 16,3 prize, the bettor was informed that the prize could not be paid because it had already expired.
That's when he sought legal recourse. Since the amount was less than 60 minimum wages, the case was heard by the special federal court, which handles small claims cases.
Code X decree
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff argued that the Civil Code establishes a five-year statute of limitations for judicial collection regulated by civil law. He further argued that the decree-law concerning lotteries, which establishes a 90-day period to claim prizes, is administrative in nature, not judicial.
The Federal Special Court of Belo Horizonte and the 4th Appellate Panel of the Federal Special Court of Minas Gerais ruled in favor of the bettor's request and ordered Caixa Econômica Federal to pay the prize.
But the Attorney General's Office appealed. Before the National Uniformization Panel, the Union's lawyers explained that the Civil Code cannot prevail over the specific decree-law regulating lotteries.
The understanding was accepted by the case's rapporteur at the TNU (National Uniformization Court), Federal Judge José Francisco Andreotti Spizzirri, in his vote, followed unanimously by the other magistrates of the Panel. He concluded that "the 90-day statute of limitations provided for in Article 17 of Decree-Law 204/67 also eliminates the possibility of judicial collection of lottery prizes within the general five-year statute of limitations established in the Civil Code for the collection of liquid debts evidenced by a public or private instrument."
“Now, this same argument will be adopted for other cases dealing with the subject within the scope of the federal special courts. And since it is a relatively common issue, it is quite relevant,” notes the Union's lawyer who worked on the case, Diego Pederneiras Moraes Rocha.
The Class
The National Uniformization Panel is a body of the Judiciary responsible for standardizing case law within the scope of the federal special courts. It is chaired by the Minister-General Inspector of Federal Justice and composed of ten Federal Judges.
Ref.: Request for uniform interpretation of law no. 0014592-08.2015.4.01.3800/MG – TNU. (AGU Press Office)