A lottery company, Green Lotto, has defended its decision not to pay one Sunday Nwachukwu his winning claim of N72.7 million after playing one of its games.

The lottery firm said the decision was hinged on the fact that the claimant engaged in irregularities, hence he does not deserve the money in question, adding that the matter was already before a court of law, hence it will not join issues with Nwachukwu.

Recall that Green Lotto was dragged before the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square over its refusal to pay a Nwachukwu his winning sum of N72,200,000.

Green Lotto is organised by a company, Brentwood Multiservices Global Limited based in Ikorodu, Lagos.

The complainant, who testified before Justice Modupe Nicol-Clay, on Thursday last week, told the court that on January 29, 2021, he played a game with N330,000 and when the result came out, he won the game, but the defendants refused to pay him the winning sum.

But, reacting to the accusation of Nwachukwu yesterday, the management of Green Lotto in a statement signed by its Head, Brand & Marketing Communications, Imoudu Asekhame, said the company does not pay fraudulent winners or encourage cheating and fraud in gaming.

“It is important to note that sometime in 2019, Mr. Sunday Nwachukwu won the sum of N58,800,000 (Fifty-eight Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Naira) from one of the games we offer and was duly paid his winnings despite our suspicion of some irregularities in his play.

“Being a company that promotes and advocates honest and responsible gaming and abhors cheating, fraud and any form of criminal activity, the Company proceeded to install an Automatic and Fraud Detection Policy Monitor on all terminals. On 29th January 2021, Mr Sunday Nwachukwu attempted to play games worth the sum of N330,000 (Three hundred and Thirty Thousand Naira) on the same terminals where he had won the sum of N58,800,000 (Fifty-eight Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Naira) earlier and belonging to Clement Gregory, however, the Automatic and Fraud Detection Policy Monitor detected irregularities (same as those suspected in the earlier winnings) and invalidated the plays.

“Following the invalidation, Mr. Sunday Nwachukwu has condescended to using several cheap blackmailing chips that includes but not limited to using security operatives to badger officers of the Company and the instigation of the institution of civil and criminal actions before the court all in a calculated attempt to force the hand of the company to pay him the sum of N72,200,000.

“Since commencing business, the Company has paid winnings to our customers without any known conflict or need to institute a court action and we will continue to uphold our policy of stress-free payouts to our winners who have continued to trust us and believe in us. We will continue to do utmost in line with the Company’s policy to identify and blacklist cheats and fraudulent gamers who try to cut corners to the detriment of honest and responsible gamers,” he stated.

He added that the company will continue to stand with its agent, Mr Charles Akhenamen, who has done no wrong and has maintained the highest professional standards during the incident while it unflinchingly intends to see this action to a logical conclusion in a bid to weed out the bad eggs in the gaming industry in Nigeria.

“Green Lotto will not be bullied and blackmailed into paying monies to persons whose attempted plays are fraught with irregularities. The Company is ready, willing, and prepared to see the pending action to judicial completion and will refrain from addressing the press on the matter till after its conclusion,” Asekhame stated.