A couple from Mato Grosso do Sul won a legal battle to receive a prize from an unregistered Mega-Sena lottery pool.

A couple from Campo Grande won a court case granting them the right to receive the prize money from a lottery pool that won a Mega-Sena prize in 1999. The pool was sold, but the ticket was not registered by the lottery attendant. The latest decision, from the Supreme Federal Court (STF), dates from 2023, but the case has gained renewed attention after a woman claimed she placed a bet with the winning numbers for the last Mega da Virada lottery, but the bet was not registered, according to a report in the Correio do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul newspaper.

In the most recent case, Elza Jesus Almeida claims to have correctly guessed the six numbers drawn in the 2024 Mega da Virada lottery and is trying to prove that she played the game legitimately and is entitled to the million-dollar prize. She alleges that she marked three games on the betting slip, but only two were registered, leaving out the one that contained the six winning numbers.

In Campo Grande, there has already been a similar case of an unregistered bet where the bettors managed to obtain the right to receive the prize through the courts, even though the bet had not been validated. Unlike the recent case, the couple had the receipt for the lottery ticket purchase, issued by the lottery agency and containing the numbers.

According to the court documents, the two bettors bought half a share of a group bet for the 171st Mega-Sena lottery draw in 1999, at a lottery outlet in Campo Grande.

They were given a purchase receipt with the numbers, but the employee did not properly process the bet in the Caixa Econômica Federal system.

Judicial decision

The couple filed a lawsuit, and the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF3) ordered the lottery agency to pay compensation for material damages in the amount of R$ 675.356,57, corresponding to the fraction of the prize they would have been entitled to if the game had been successful, in addition to compensation for moral damages in the amount of R$ 25.

The court dismissed Caixa Econômica's responsibility to compensate the couple for damages caused by not receiving the prize money.

The judges understood that the occurrence of unlawful conduct liable for compensation by the public company had not been demonstrated, and that there was no causal link between the conduct of the lottery shop employee, who failed to process the bet, and the banking institution.

It was considered that Caixa could only be held civilly liable if it had public knowledge of the bet and had not made the corresponding payment of the prize.

For this to be valid, there needs to be formal proof of a bet placed on game number 171 of the "Mega-Sena" lottery, through a receipt electronically registered in the bank's lottery system, and not just the receipt in the case file, which is a document issued "at the owner's own risk" by the lottery outlet.

The process dragged on for decades and was finalized in 2023, following a decision by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), which upheld the conviction of the lottery house to pay the couple the amount corresponding to the prize and compensation of R$ 25, thus excluding the responsibility of Caixa Econômica Federal.

"The genuine expectation of receiving a prize that never materialized due to the negligence of the lottery employee is something legally tangible, affecting the plaintiff's intangible sphere, as it generates visible frustration and loss of opportunity due to the responsibility of third parties," says an excerpt from the decision.

Speaking to the Metrópoles website, the lawyer representing the couple, Catarina Mariano, stated that the payment has not yet been made and that the agreed amount will still be updated.

"The settlement of compensation amounts will take into account interest, adjustments, fees, and the time that has already passed," he said.

Paulista claims Mega da Virada prize.

Currently, Elza Jesus Almeida, 64, a resident of São Paulo, claims to have correctly guessed the six numbers in the last Mega da Virada lottery draw, but that the lottery outlet where she placed her bet did not register the winning ticket.

According to Elza, she made eight bets in total, but only seven were registered, and the one with the winning numbers was not registered.

In this case, she has no receipt indicating that the bet was or should have been placed, as was the case with the couple from Mato Grosso do Sul.

The woman says that when she received the betting slips, she didn't check to see if the number of bets matched the stubs, and that she only realized this after the Mega da Virada lottery draw, because the winning numbers were the ones she claims to have marked on the stub.

A non-criminal police report was filed with the Civil Police to formalize the complaint and initiate a detailed investigation. The bettor's family is awaiting security camera footage from the lottery outlet in an attempt to prove that the bet was indeed marked on the ticket stub and was not registered.

Caixa Econômica, however, stated that the receipt issued at the terminal is the only document that validates a bet for the prize.