Dutch family torn apart by lottery win gets clarity: father-in-law can keep 3.2 million | Abroad

The man from Rijswijk (a city in the province of South Holland) had purchased several lottery tickets on September 2, 2023. They won the main prize with a ticket, but that ticket had now come into the possession of his father-in-law. According to the man, the father-in-law had stolen the lottery ticket. However, after a short investigation, the Staatsloterij saw no reason not to pay the main prize to the father-in-law. The judge ruled that the Staatsloterij was allowed to do this ‘reasonably’.

The father-in-law had reported to the Staatsloterij on October 4 with the winning ticket and said that he had received the winning ticket from his son-in-law as a gift. A day later, his son-in-law reported to the company. He said that “an 80 year old man”, his father-in-law, had stolen the lottery ticket. A little later he tried to claim the top prize through summary proceedings.

It caused all family ties to be severed. “As if my father-in-law would steal something like that? He is an honest man,” said another son in court two weeks ago. “Always have been and the fact that he is now accused of theft hurts him so much.”

The Staatsloterij states that payment was rightly made to the person who could present the winning ticket, as also stated in the participant regulations. That’s the father-in-law. The judge does not consider who exactly is right. This case only concerned whether the Staatsloterij could pay out to the father-in-law.

“The regulations of the State Lottery show that only the provider of the valid participation certificate is entitled to payment of the prize stated on that participation certificate,” says the judge. “In this case, the father-in-law came forward with the original winning ticket.”

The judge also finds the man’s story that his father-in-law “just wanted to hold on to fate” and then ran away with it as implausible. “It is unlikely that the father-in-law, given his old age and his reduced hand motor skills, would be able to steal the winning state ticket by exchanging it with his own ticket without this being noticed by the Rijswijk resident.”

The Staatsloterij can still suspend the payment if there are doubts about the rightful owner of the ticket. The man can also start a new case against his father-in-law. “If he believes that the lottery ticket has been stolen from him, he will have to initiate proceedings against his father-in-law,” a representative of the Dutch Lottery said earlier.