Appraisal but no results
Responding to Lao Dong newspaper on November 29, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga (53 years old, in Thang Binh, Quang Nam, name changed) - the owner of the lottery ticket that won the special prize of 2 billion VND, but the Lottery Company of Thua Thien - Hue province refused to pay the prize, confirmed that she had filed a lawsuit with the People's Court of Thua Thien - Hue to claim her rights.
“When I found out I won the special prize of 2 billion VND - a huge amount of money that I would never have even if I worked my whole life, my whole family was extremely happy, but also nervous, because the lottery ticket had been wet by the rain, and one corner was no longer intact.
The next day, my son and I went to the Thua Thien - Hue Lottery Company to report the incident. The company asked the police to verify whether the tickets were real or fake, with a commitment that if the tickets were indeed issued by the company, they would pay the customers. Mr. Tran Viet Nguyen - Chairman of the Thua Thien - Hue Lottery Company confirmed this, giving us hope," said Ms. Nga.
To have money to pay the 12 million VND cost to appraise 2 lottery tickets (1 winning the special prize and 1 winning the special consolation prize), Ms. Nga said she had to borrow money from relatives, because this was a relatively large amount of money for the family.
“I was the one who requested the appraisal and paid the fee but did not receive the appraisal results. The police said they had returned the results to the lottery company, but when I asked to see the appraisal results, the company refused.
The company only recognized one lottery ticket as winning the special consolation prize, but the ticket that won the special prize was deemed not sufficient to pay the prize, according to Circular No. 75/2013/TT-BTC dated June 4, 2013 of the Ministry of Finance. Up to now, I have not received the appraisal results," Ms. Nga said indignantly.
Willing to reconcile if the lottery company is willing
Mrs. Nga confided that her family's circumstances were difficult, and in addition to growing vegetables on a few fields, she also took on extra work as a cook for parties to make ends meet. That was the reason she often bought lottery tickets to keep her hopes alive every day. Mrs. Nga bought the winning lottery ticket on October 14, at a restaurant near her home.
“For the past month, my family’s life has been disrupted, we have been struggling, lost sleep, and suffered such a mental breakdown that my mother had to be hospitalized. My son and I had to quit our jobs and spend a lot of money to go to Hue many times to resolve the matter,” Ms. Nga shared.
According to the written response to Ms. Nga's petition, the Thua Thien - Hue Provincial Lottery Company refused to pay the special prize of 2 billion VND, on the grounds that the lottery ticket "had shrunk, partially deformed and torn off the lower right corner of the number series, missing the base of the unit digit (the torn part was no longer there), there was not enough basis to determine the original shape, the location of the tear affected the factors to determine the prize". But did not mention the appraisal results.
"If they had told me from the beginning that the ticket was torn and not eligible for the prize, I would have happily accepted it, partly because I had not preserved it well. But now, they asked for the ticket to be appraised, promised, but did not return the results, and finally refused to pay the prize, causing us to go from hope, anxiety to anger," said Ms. Nga.
Ms. Nga wondered why the lottery company did not announce the appraisal results: "If the lottery ticket was fake, I would have been sued by them and caught up in legal trouble by now. I am willing to settle and receive a portion of the prize value, on the condition that the rest must be donated to the State's fund to support the poor."
