The Court of Appeal in Den Bosch has sided with a lottery player who claimed damages from the State Lottery for misleading advertising practices between 2000 and 2008.
In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the state lottery operator had misled consumers by systematically misrepresenting the chances of winning a prize.
State lottery must refund deposit
An individual player had filed a case against the State Lottery. The man claimed that the State Lottery had misled him, and other players too of course, for years about the possible chances of winning. Already in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled that the State Lottery was guilty of deception.
State Lottery already went through the dust
This led the individual player to independently file a case against the State Lottery. His demand was to get the purchase price of the lottery tickets from 2000 to 2008 back from the organization.
The Court of Appeal in Den Bosch ruled April 7 that the man was right and that the State Lottery must repay the purchase price of the lottery tickets including interest. The total amount involved was approximately 8,000 euros, which is his deposit minus the prize money and including interest.
The ruling of the court in Den Bosch shows that the State Lottery remains vulnerable to legal problems in the past. Especially with regard to advertising practices and probably this ruling is going to provide additional compensation and fines.
Process of years
The Lottery Loss Foundation has been proclaiming for years that participants have been duped and swindled and that they should get their deposit plus interest back. The spokesperson of Loterijverlies:
“The highest court of fact has now ruled that people should get their money back and this ruling strengthens our customers’ litigation position. This ruling also shows that the State Lottery’s so-called free Special Drawing was by no means a correct decision.”
It remains to be seen whether more cases will follow against the State Lottery. Now that this jurisprudence is available, it is not inconceivable.