While it is a known fact that minors are not allowed to gamble, this has not prevented a few cases in the past of underage teenage lottery winners.
Playing the lottery must be one of the most accessible and versatile forms of gambling. One can buy lottery tickets on almost every corner, and online purchases are also common. But what would happen if a minor had a winning lottery ticket? Although there have been cases of teenage lottery winners in the past, this has always ended up sadly for the winners.
Canada’s provinces might operate their own lotteries under slightly different rules. However, one overarching constant is that a person must be 18 years old to purchase lottery tickets. Thus, anyone under the age of 18 would be considered a minor.
The lottery is a simple and fun game that younger players can easily comprehend. This game of luck involves a random selection of numbers from a list and the hope that these appear on the day of the draw.
The worrying aspect is that it’s not hard for underage persons to obtain tickets while claiming to be of legal age. It’s even easier for minors to access adult online casino accounts and play there. However, this is never advisable. Lying about one’s age is a severe criminal offence and could get you into heaps of trouble. Furthermore, all casinos must verify each player’s details as they appear on their ID.
Do Teenage Lottery Winners Get Paid Out?
In. the case that a minor somehow wins a large sum of money, what happens next? Would the casino pay out, and what are the rules regarding this? There are a few ways how this would be handled.
Firstly, the provinces, by statute, cannot transfer lottery winnings to a minor. It is illegal for lottery vendors or online casinos to sell to underage players, and it is a major offence for a minor to be deceitful about their age.
The only acceptable reason why a minor might possess a winning lottery ticket is if it was gifted to them. Lottery tickets are a cheap gift, and nobody gifting these generally expects them to win. But what options does a minor have if the ticket is the winning one?
Alternative Payment Arrangements for Underage Teenage Lottery Winners
Should a minor win through a gifted ticket, arrangements can be made for the winning proceeds to go into a trust fund or the parents’ or legal guardians’ account. Should the money go into a trust fund, the winner can access the money once they are of legal age to do so. If the money is transferred to the parents, they may use it as they see fit until the minor becomes of age.
Some places allow, under reasonable circumstances, for minors to be emancipated from their parents at an early age. The parents of the underage child must sign a petition, and the judge presiding must see a good reason why the child should live independently from the parents. If you are under 18 and financially stable enough to look after yourself without any parental help, then there’s a chance that the judge might rule in your favour.
To conclude, minor teenage lottery winners exist but are prevented from claiming the winnings if they lied about their age since that’s an offence. If the winning ticket was gifted, the parents or legal guardians of the minor might be able to claim the winnings on their behalf, but that’s also not always 100 percent guaranteed.
