The story of a 28yearold Belgian resident who, over the past few weeks, realized he had won the maximum possible amount by buying a €5 scratch card.
think you have one Win a scratchcard good value 250,000 euros but not not being able to redeem it because you do not have the necessary identification documents to open a bank account and credit the amount, it is the absurd situation you find yourself in a 28 years old, lives in Belgium who has found in the past few weeks that he has won the maximum amount possible by buying a €5 scratch card in a supermarket in Zeebrugge in the municipality of Bruges in West Flanders. Seeing the ticket, the man immediately showed up at the store to ask for the sum, but that’s where his ordeal began. He was told the amount could not be paid out in cash and that he would have to open an account and go to the National Lottery office to withdraw his money, but the 28yearold did is an illegal immigrant and does not have a valid document in Belgium.
The 28yearold first tried the shop again with a friend who asked if the money could be loaded onto a credit card straight away, then asked the same friends to show up at the National Lottery to collect his money. However, this is where things got complicated. In fact, the supermarket had already reported the man of Algerian origin and his difficulties and the three did not match the description, so he intervened The police, who arrested friends for theft, believed they robbed him. The 28yearold therefore had to report to the police as an irregular migrant in order to secure the release of the three friends.
The man has now contacted a lawyer to claim his money. “My client is in an illegal situation, he has neither documents nor a bank account,” Alexander Verstraete, lawyer for the 28yearold, told AFP, adding: “We are looking for documents that can prove his family’s identity in Algeria.” . For the time being, the winning scratch card was confiscated by a court in the city of Bruges and the man he has received a promise from the authorities that he will not be deported until he received the award. According to Belgian media, the winner left Algeria four months ago and traveled to Spain by boat. From there he crossed Spain and France on foot before reaching Belgium. He wanted to go to the UK but now says he would rather stay in Belgium and hopes to start a family. “If I have the money, I’ll buy an apartment in Brussels. And maybe a car,” said the man, whose identity has not been released.