Bar-tabac accused of taking customer’s Loto winnings

A man in Gif-sur-Yvette in Essonne (Ile-de-France) has accused the owners of the bar-tabac (tobacco shop) to which he brought his apparently-winning ticket, of exchanging it for a losing one, as reported in French news source France Info.

The ticket was not a jackpot-win, but the man claims to have been in line to win at least several dozen euros.

“At the point where she should have gone to get my winnings, she told me that I had actually lost, but that she wasn’t able to give me the ticket back because she had put it in the rubbish bin,” a source is reported as saying to France Info.

The owners of the bar-tabac deny the claims, but did not respond to requests for comment, citing the still-pending investigation.

Now, La Française des Jeux (FDJ), the company that runs the national Loto, has launched an internal enquiry, especially after another similar complaint was lodged earlier this month.

FDJ claims that it inspects every one of its 30,000 points of sale every year, in a bid to battle against the risk of fraud and theft.

If you do play the Loto, there are some ways to reduce the risk of your ticket being taken, including using an automatic checking machine yourself, or ensuring that the tobacconist uses an automatic terminal to check your winnings.