Woman finds lottery ticket on-road and wins 12 million

In France, money was on the street: a woman found a lottery ticket worth 163 million euros. Then an odyssey began.

Berlin. What luck in misfortune – one would think. In France, a lottery player had cracked the “Euromillions” jackpot but lost his ticket. A woman found the lottery ticket later on the street. But instead of giving it to the actual winner, she wanted to collect the millions herself.

The situation was tricky because to collect the money; two conditions have to be met: On the one hand you have to be the owner of the lottery ticket, on the other hand, you have to be able to show it physically. So the 2011 case finally occupied the courts.

Lotto conflict with 12 million settlement not yet over

As “Le Dauphiné” reports, the administrative court in Paris has now pronounced a verdict. Although the state lottery company La Française des Jeux had already been able to resolve the conflict between the two parties through a settlement, the finder returned the lottery ticket in exchange for 12 million euros. But then the finance minister interfered.

He now demanded more than 4.3 million euros in taxes from the woman, since in his eyes it was not a tax-free lottery prize, but a payment of a sum of money from one individual to another.

Lottery ticket finder does not have to pay taxes

The woman defended herself with a complaint – and was now successful. The Administrative Court ruled that her 12 million euros were not subject to tax.

In the end, the case has only one loser: the French state. Not only does he miss out on several million euros, but he also has to pay on top of it. 2000 euros for the costs of the proceedings.