Man in Malaysia loses appeal over $45,500 lottery prize despite photo and police report

A businessman in Malaysia who says he photographed a winning lottery ticket before losing it has failed in his appeal to claim the RM185,671 (US$45,500) prize.

Judicial Commissioner Seow Hock Peng of the High Court in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor state, dismissed M Mahendravarman's appeal on Oct. 19 against a sessions court ruling that had rejected his claim against lottery operator Pan Malaysian Pools Sdn Bhd, Free Malaysia Today reported.

The court also ordered him to pay RM3,000 in costs. His lawyer, R Kengadharan, said he would seek his client's instructions on whether to pursue a further appeal.

Mahendravarman said he paid RM30 ($7) for a ticket bearing the numbers 1515 and 1010 at an outlet in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, on May 14, 2022, and that it won RM185,671 in the draw.

He said he took a photo of the ticket but later lost the ticket itself, and filed a police report on May 16, 2022. When he tried to claim the prize with the photo, Pan Malaysian Pools, which runs the Da Ma Cai lottery brand, refused to pay without the original ticket.

Lottery balls inside a draw machine. Illustration photo by Unsplash/Dylan Nolte

In the appeal, Kengadharan argued that the sessions court had given too much weight to the missing ticket and had not properly considered the evidence as a whole.

He said Chong Yoon Yew, a witness for the company, had confirmed that the serial number in the police report matched the photo, and that no one else had produced the original ticket to claim the prize.

Kengadharan also cited Sections 61, 63 and 65 of the Evidence Act 1950, which he argued allow secondary evidence to be admitted in certain circumstances, including when the original document has been lost.

The company's lawyer countered that under its rules a prize can be claimed only with the original ticket, to prevent fraudulent or duplicate claims, Chinese-language TV channel 8TV reported.

When the sessions court in Shah Alam dismissed the suit in early December 2025, Judge Rafiqha Hanim Rosli said Mahendravarman had failed to prove his case on the balance of probabilities and was entitled to the prize money only if he could produce the actual winning ticket, Free Malaysia Today reported at the time. She ordered him to pay RM10,000 in costs to Pan Malaysian Pools.