The Daily Telegraph reports that the District court in NSW has found that a newsagent was negligent in his obligations surrounding handling a division 1 prize and is therefore liable for the $500,000 prize.
While I do not know the detail of this case, I do know that NSW Lotteries following best practice for managing large prizes could have seen this problem avoided. In Victoria, for example, lottery agents are not involved in processing large prize claims – the screen does not even show the value of the prize when the ticket is scanned. In NSW, the process is more lax and even though it has been changed, it remains easy for fraud. I would have thought that since NSW Lotteries controlled the process it had some obligation in relation to this case in that it could have adopted worldwide best practice and removed the temptation altogether.
It is good to see the NSW newsagents association supporting the newsagent involved.