A request to certify a class action lawsuit against Mifal HaPayis, valued at NIS 2. 5 million, has been filed with the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court. The application, submitted by a participant in the 'Chance' lottery, follows a discrepancy between the results displayed to the public and the actual balls drawn by the machines. As reported by News 13, the incident was exposed after it was revealed that the ball-loading procedure was conducted contrary to standard protocols, without proper oversight by the supervisory committee in real-time.
The lawsuit alleges that as a result, many participants compared their tickets to the erroneous results, believed they had not won, and discarded their tickets, thereby preventing them from claiming their prizes. The petition asks the court to declare the draw void from its inception due to substantive flaws, arguing that the results could not be retroactively validated by amending the official publication. The plaintiff, represented by Adv. Yair Shafran, claims the actions taken by Mifal HaPayis caused significant distress to the affected group of bettors.
Concurrent with the filing and amidst public criticism, Mifal HaPayis CEO Benny Dreyfuss announced his resignation. Conversely, Mifal HaPayis rejects the allegations, describing the incident as an isolated human error. The organization claims it acted with full transparency upon discovering the mistake and published a public clarification. According to Mifal HaPayis, their regulations stipulate that the definitive result is determined by the shape and numbers on the physical balls.
Additionally, the lottery stated that most claims have been redeemed without incident and that they are reviewing individual requests from customers who claim to have won but no longer possess their tickets by cross-referencing purchase data and redemption records. The organization emphasized that it is conducting a thorough investigation into the circumstances to prevent similar occurrences in the future.