Lagos lottery firm justifies rejecting N72m winning

A lottery brand, Green Lotto, has said its refusal to pay a businessman, Sunday Nwachukwu, a sum of N72,700,000, for his win was due to some irregularities.

PUNCH Metro had reported that Nwachukwu dragged Green Lotto and its agent, Charles Akhenanen, before the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square over the company’s refusal to pay his winning sum of N72,700,000.

The complainant, who testified before Justice Modupe Nicol-Clay, last Thursday, said he played a game on January 29, 2021 with N330,000 and won but the company refused to pay him.

The firm and Akhenanen were arraigned for allegedly stealing N72,700,000.

However, in a statement by the company’s Head of Brand and Marketing Communications, Imoudu Asekhame, Green Lotto said an Automatic and Fraud Detection Policy Monitor installed by the company detected irregularities in Nwachukwu’s play.

The statement read in part, “It is important to note that sometime in 2019, Sunday Nwachukwu won the sum of N58,800,000 from one of the games we offered and was duly paid his winnings despite our suspicion of some irregularities in his play. Being a company that promotes and advocates honest and responsible gaming and abhors cheating, fraud and any form of criminal activity, the company proceeded to install an Automatic and Fraud Detection Policy Monitor on all terminals.

“On January 29, 2021, Mr Sunday Nwachukwu attempted to play games worth the sum of N330,000 on the same terminals where he had won the sum of N58,800,000 earlier and belonging to Clement Gregory. However, the Automatic and Fraud Detection Policy Monitor detected irregularities (same as those suspected in the earlier winnings) and invalidated the play.”

Asekhame said Nwachukwu had attempted to retrieve his winning sum by harassing the company’s officers.

He said the firm was ready to proceed with the case before the court.

(Punch)