24 August 2011

$100,000.00 lotto Win / Loss / Win / Loss - Heart Breaking


A SYDNEY couple who successfully fought NSW Lotteries in court over what appeared to be a winning lottery ticket have had the money taken from them in the Federal Court of Appeal.

Bale Kuzmanovski felt an ''explosion of elation'' when the instant scratchie his wife bought for his birthday revealed a picture of a swimmer next to the word ''bathe'' - which they thought was a match worth $100,000.

But NSW Lotteries disagreed. The machine at his local newsagent came up with a negative result.

The word ''bathe'', NSW Lotteries argued, did not match the image of a swimmer, but a bathtub.

Mr Kuzmanovski and his wife, Elizabeth, took NSW Lotteries to the Federal Court and won - receiving the $100,000 prize plus interest, and a $20,000 damages payout for ''deceptive and misleading conduct''.

The couple put most of the winnings into their mortgage, but NSW Lotteries was not done.The agency took the rail worker and his wife to the Federal Court of Appeal. 

The justices did not uphold NSW Lotteries' appeal against the awarding of $20,000 in damages for ''deceptive and misleading conduct''. However, the couple face the prospect of having to pay their opponent's legal costs.


bathe [beɪð]vb
1. (intr) to swim or paddle in a body of open water or a river, esp for pleasure
2. (Medicine) (tr) to apply liquid to (skin, a wound, etc.) in order to cleanse or soothe
3. to immerse or be immersed in a liquid to bathe machine parts in oil
4. Chiefly US and Canadian to wash in a bath
5. (tr; often passive) to suffuse her face was bathed with radiance
6. (tr) (of water, the sea, etc.) to lap; wash waves bathed the shore


10 comments:

  1. G'day Ronnie.. long time no see!.. hope your keeping well

    Yep, I thought it was truly sad. I recall when this particular incident first was reported on TV ( I think it would have to be a few years back now).. so they have had this hanging over their heads for a long time. How utterly devestating.. and you know.. I actually think that the Lotto is in the wrong to have placed such a misleading image their if they were not going to honor it as the 'correct' answer... very poor judgement.

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  2. Obviously someone who designs these games should be fired by now.

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  3. shit shit shit i forgot to get a ticket in tonight's Powerball!! Ill never get rich !

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  4. by the way, werent swim suits first called Bathing Suits? I would fight the courts on that one too, and thats definitely a swimmer on that ticket. Not someone sitting in a bath

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  5. ......."The agency took the rail worker and his wife to the Federal Court of Appeal, arguing the previous judge had misinterpreted the nature of the contract the Kuzmanovskis entered into when they bought the ticket.

    It said this contract did not just include the rules of the game printed on the ticket but large sections of the Public Lotteries Act and its subsidiary legislation.

    Had the Kuzmanovskis delved into the statute books, they would have found the ''final arbiter'' in determining a winning ticket is not the scratchable windows on the ticket, but the small verification code in the bottom corner.

    The fact that the provision ''may operate to the detriment of the Kuzmanovskis or lead to an unreasonable result is irrelevant'', justices Cowdroy, Siopis and Tracey said in their decision.."

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  6. the ''final arbiter'' in determining a winning ticket is not the scratchable windows on the ticket, but the small verification code in the bottom corner.

    So does this mean that no matter how correct the answer MAY actually be...that Lotto can determine that any answer can be incorrect IF it is not verified... to me thats just plain wrong

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  7. all tickets say Void if verification code is revealed anyway...

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  8. It seems as if the lottery would have conceded to let the couple have their winnings--it's not THAT much money, anyway. I suppose the lottery would rather risk the bad PR, telling future lottery ticket purchasers that they (the lottery) will be the ultimate arbiter of whether the public wins or loses and that they (the lottery) will cheat you if they see fit. In other words, we (the lottery) never take responsibility for our own mistakes--YOU do.

    ~M

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