Hong Kong lottery winner fails in legal bid over claiming of prize
Man loses appeal to get winnings after he did not collect money within 60-day limit as stipulated in Jockey Club Lotteries’ rules
Luck was not on the side of a Mark Six winner, who claimed that he was unfairly treated by the Jockey Club because he was a non-registered lottery buyer, after he failed to convince a court to award him his prize money.
Cheung Kwok-wah lost his appeal bid to recover the HK$47,140 denied by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Lotteries at the Court of First Instance on Monday .
Cheung was denied the third prize he won after he failed to claim it within a 60-day limit as set out in the Jockey Club’s Lotteries rules.
During the trial, Cheung argued that while registered winners enjoyed the convenience of having the winnings directly transferred into their Jockey Club accounts within that time period, non-registered gamblers did not have the same luxury, leading to the expiry of the money they had won.
He claimed that the Lotteries’ rules had violated the Basic Law, which requires every person to be treated equally and protected by law.
Commenting on the differential treatment, Mr Justice David Lok said: “But this does not amount to a ground of unconstitutionality.”