Woman Claims to Be a Mega da Virada Winner but Accuses Lottery Shop of Failing to Register Her Bet

Elza Jesus Almeida, a resident of São Paulo's southern zone, claims to be the ninth winner of the 2024 Mega da Virada but faces a dilemma. According to her, one of her bets with the winning numbers (01 – 17 – 19 – 29 – 50 – 57) was not registered by the lottery shop. The total prize of R$ 635 million was divided among eight winners, but Elza believes she should have been included on the list.

At 64, Elza says she placed eight bets at a lottery shop near her home. Upon checking the winning numbers, she believed she had become a millionaire. “I thought I’d bring my son back from the United States, buy a house for my granddaughter. But when we checked the receipt, the winning sequence was only on the stub,” she explained.

The woman believes the lottery attendant forgot to register all her bets. “I trusted them; I didn’t check the receipts at the time. I never imagined this could happen,” she lamented.

In an attempt to resolve the situation, Elza's son tried to file a police report. After some difficulties, he managed to obtain a non-criminal incident report. The lottery shop committed to providing security footage of the counter where the bet was placed, but Caixa Econômica Federal was clear: only the receipt issued by the terminal validates the right to the prize.

Without documentary proof, Elza faces an uncertain path in her fight to be recognized as a Mega da Virada winner.