Overview
- Prosecutors asked the court to jail lotero Manuel Reija and his brother, lottery delegate Miguel Reija, for six years each, arguing the winning 2012 ticket was hidden from its owner and later dressed up as a found item.
- Investigators pointed to terminal logs showing other bets were checked just before the winning slip and the same number combos were revalidated right after, a sequence they say proves the customer was present and misled.
- Manuel told the court he was alone when he found a stack of slips, denied any plan to cash the prize, and said his payment requests were only to stop the win from expiring, though records show he filed four such requests.
- Miguel said he sealed the ticket to preserve fingerprints, did not call police because he saw no crime, and followed guidance from the state operator Selae, while several delegates testified there was no clear protocol in 2012.
- The ticket has sat in Selae’s vault since July 2012 and has never been paid, with police identifying José Luis Alonso as the likely owner in 2021 after he died in 2014, and prosecutors now asking that his widow and daughter receive the money.