Pensioner sues over $3 million Lotto win from 1997
A Sydney disability pensioner who believed a shop attendant threw away a winning Lotto ticket in 1997 is suing NSW Lotteries for the $3.3 million prize.
David Owen Renshaw says he saw “provisional winner” come up on screen when he handed in his ticket at Granville Railway Station newsagency following the September 23, 1997 draw.
“I know what I saw, it has been playing on my mind for 20 years,” he told the NSW Supreme Court today.
Mr Renshaw is now suing NSW Lotteries and the state of NSW for the unclaimed $3.3 million, which is one-third of the first division prize in Oz Lotto Draw 188.
He said he bought the “mixed entry coupon” ticket at the Greenfield Park newsagency and later presented it to a male attendant at the Granville newsagency.
“I witnessed the words ‘provisional winner’ when I handed it in,” he told Justice Michael Walton.
“I queried the attendant about what those words mean and he said ‘no winner’.
“He couldn’t speak English very well and I dare say couldn’t read.”
Mr Renshaw said he demanded his ticket back but the attendant threw it in the bin, saying “No winner”.
The attendant then “ran to the office and locked himself in for four to five minutes and the manager kept peering out at me”.
Mr Renshaw’s case comes three years after another pensioner failed in his bid to claim a Lotto prize after arguing he’d lost the winning ticket when he moved house.
Lawyers for NSW Lotteries have applied to have the case struck out, telling the judge it had not been brought within the time limit required by law
Mr Renshaw’s case has been adjourned to July 6 so he can obtain legal advice.