Overview
- The woman won a €35,000 ONCE lottery prize in August 2025 but was prevented from collecting after her name was found on Spain’s national Register of gambling exclusions dating to 2012.
- Her family and lawyer say the 2012 entry was submitted by her then-husband without her knowledge and that the paperwork contains clear errors, including a mismatched signature, a misspelled surname, the wrong birthplace, and a non-standard form layout.
- She has lodged an administrative appeal and taken the case to the High Court of Justice of Madrid to seek annulment of the exclusion and to force payment of the prize.
- ONCE has said it will release the €35,000 immediately if the exclusion is officially annulled, leaving the payment contingent on an administrative or judicial decision.
- The dispute highlights how weak identity checks on the self-exclusion register can harm vulnerable people, and it may prompt review of registry procedures and protections for elderly or incapacitated individuals.