appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Lam Ka-sing

Fourteen Hong Kong government employees can only recover their shares of a HK$30 million (US$3.8 million) Mark Six lottery windfall through civil legal proceedings, a lawyer has said, after a colleague allegedly refused to split the prize, went missing, and was later arrested.
Vitus Lawyers principal partner Vitus Leung Wing-hang told the South China Morning Post on Monday that retrieving the money would not be easy for the victims, who worked at the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
Leung added that the 36-year-old colleague, arrested on Friday on suspicion of theft, would still face criminal charges even if he returned the disputed funds.
“If that person is found guilty, the bank account doesn’t belong to the other 14 people. So the bank will not release the money immediately,” he said, adding that the victims would “have to go to civil court”.
The dispute centres on the suspect’s failure to reach a consensus with the 14 victims over his claim to a larger share of the windfall. He reportedly argued he deserved more because he bought the tickets and decided the strategy, even though all 15 had contributed to a pooled fund.
The group won the prize in the September 5 draw, which was part of the record HK$228 million “snowball” jackpot marking the 50th anniversary of the Mark Six lottery, organised by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Following a deadlock during a meeting over how to divide the winnings, the suspect reportedly vanished from work for five days.
His disappearance prompted a 53-year-old colleague to file a police report, leading to the man’s arrest on Friday for alleged theft.

Police subsequently froze the suspect’s bank account and the HK$30 million prize pending further investigation.
Leung said the victims could not simply ask the bank to hand over the money even if the suspect were convicted of theft.
The bank would not release the funds immediately because the frozen account belonged to the suspect and might also contain his personal cash mixed with the prize money, he said.
He compared the civil recovery process to online fraud cases, where victims who transfer money into a third party’s account must sue the account holder to retrieve their funds.
The group would need to hire lawyers to initiate civil proceedings to recover their shares from the frozen account, Leung said.
Leung added that the bank account might have “monies more than that amount to be released to the 14 people”, so the victims would need “another civil procedure” to get the funds back.
Leung emphasised that possessing a winning lottery ticket did not automatically confer full legal ownership of the prize money.
He said the law carefully distinguished between the person holding the ticket and the true beneficial owners of the asset.
Although the arrested man held the ticket and the funds in his bank account, all 15 contributors remained the beneficial owners of the prize, he added.
With any property, including land, the legal title might be in one person’s name, but the beneficial owner could be someone else, Leung said.
To avoid similar disputes, Leung advised members of lottery syndicates to establish clear terms before buying tickets, suggesting that even a basic written record would suffice.
“Just put it in a simple message in a WhatsApp group,” Leung said.


Nearly 50% rise in drug seizures by Hong Kong customs in first half of year

Hong Kong customs seizes 13kg of suspected ketamine at airport, man arrested

Murder trial of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi’s former relatives to begin

Customs seizes record HK$125 million worth of marijuana shipped by sea, arresting 3

Crime in Hong Kong

Buyer’s bonus or brazen theft? The legal fight over HK$30 million Mark Six prize

The group won the HK$30 million prize in the September 5 draw, part of the record HK$228 million “snowball” jackpot marking the 50th anniversary of the Mark Six lottery. Photo: Eugene Lee

People place bets at a betting centre on Hankow Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Jelly Tse

Long queues form outside a Jockey Club betting branch on Stanley Street on September 5, the day of the draw. Photo: Nora Tam

People select their favourite numbers via a kiosk for a Mark Six jackpot at a Hong Kong Jockey Club betting branch in Causeway Bay. Photo: Sun Yeung

A long queue forms outside the Jockey Club’s Stanley Street betting branch in Central on September 5. Photo: Nora Tam

Police freeze HK$30 million in bank account of man who refused to share Mark Six prize

A queue outside the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s betting branch on Stanley Street in Central last Saturday. Nora Tam

Man arrested after allegedly refusing to share HK$30m Mark Six jackpot with group

The September 5 draw was a “Mark Six 50th Anniversary Snowball”  with a record jackpot of HK$228 million. Photo: Nora Tam

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Lawyer says 14 government employees must launch civil proceedings to recover their shares after a colleague allegedly kept the prize money


Lawyer says 14 government employees must launch civil proceedings to recover their shares after a colleague allegedly kept the prize money.


Buyer’s bonus or brazen theft? The legal fight over HK$30 million Mark Six prize

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lawyer says 14 government employees must launch civil proceedings to recover their shares after a colleague allegedly kept the prize money

Lawyer says 14 government employees must launch civil proceedings to recover their shares after a colleague allegedly kept the prize money