Lottery vendor sued over winning number
For three years without fail, a Thessaloniki teacher invested in the same lottery numbers. And on the one day that his lottery vendor failed to bring his usual tickets, one of them won 6.2 million drachmas (18,235 euros). So he sued the vendor – who had kept the winning ticket. Press reports yesterday said Thomas Yiotas spent up to 10 million drachmas buying 20 tickets for each National Lottery draw, always from the same vendor who delivered it to him at work. In November, when he was off sick, he heard that one of his numbers had won. But he didn’t have it. «I phoned the vendor before the draw to bring me the ticket but he didn’t,» Yiotas told a Thessaloniki court on Monday. It is quite normal for National Lottery tickets, issued in the buyer’s name, to be renewed over long periods. The vendor claimed Yiotas had not paid for the renewal, adding that he would claim the prize. The court issued a temporary order banning the vendor from cashing the ticket.