Kucukkoylu v Ozcan
2014
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
- HIS HONOUR JUDGE GOSNELL
Areas of Law
- Contract Law
2014
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
In this case, the primary issue was the entitlement to a £1 million raffle prize won from a Euromillions Lottery ticket purchased on 30th January 2012. The Defendant, Fatih Ozcan, claimed there was an agreement with the Claimant, Hayati Kucukkoylu, to jointly purchase and share the lottery winnings. The court found that there existed either an explicit or implied contract between the parties to share the winnings equally, leading to the prize money being divided between the Claimant and the Defendant.
Judgment
His Honour Judge Gosnell:
Overnight on 29th January 2012 the Defendant, Fatih Ozcan had a dream. In his dream he dreamt that he was holding a large bundle of cash and standing in front of him was the Claimant, Hayati Kucukkoylu, his employer. The Defendant is a strong believer in the power of dreams and interpreted this to mean that he and the Claimant would win the lottery. On 30 th January 2012 a ticket was bought for the Euromillions Lottery which won the raffle prize of £1 million. Surprising though this history may be, it is not substantially disputed. What is disputed is who bought the ticket and who is entitled to the winnings.
The National Lottery : Euromillions
The Euromillions is part of a suite of lottery tickets made available to the public by the National Lottery. Euromillions is drawn twice each week on a Tuesday and Friday. The Euromillions jackpot is variable and depends upon the number of players and the frequency with which the jackpot is won. However, in each draw there is a guaranteed £1million prize for a UK player by way of the UK Millionaire Raffle. Each play automatically enters the player into the UK Millionaire Raffle. For instance three plays would enter the player three times into the Raffle.
3. The following is the procedure to play one of the draw-based games on National Lottery:
Obtain from the retailer a play slip. There is a separate play slip for each game.
Select the relevant numbers. Each play for Euromillions required the player to select five numbers from the main board, with numbers of 1 to 50 and to select two Lucky Star Numbers from 1 to 11. Each play is known as a Board, and on a Euromillions play slip there could be five such plays from Board A to Board E. As opposed to selecting specific numbers, the player could opt for a Lucky Dip from the main board which then results in the retailer’s terminal making a random selection of numbers for the player.
The player then presents the play slip to the retailer and pays the relevant cost.
The retailer will enter the numbers selected from the play slip and provide the player with the ticket.
The player has the option to put his name and address and sign the rear of the ticket if he wishes to do so although this is not a legal requirement.
4. The Claimant’s case:
The Claimant claims that on Monday 30 th January 2012, he attended at the restaurant which he jointly owns with his brother as usual. He was sitting at a table in his restaurant with a frien