P.R. Laws tit. 15, § 120
(a) Except as provided herein, the surplus tickets from any drawing shall be played by the Government of Puerto Rico, and the prizes won by said surplus tickets, as well as by the tickets that are lost or torn, or uncollected or illegally appropriated, and which have not been claimed as provided in this section, shall be for the benefit of and shall be covered into the General Fund of the Treasury of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Government.
Any person who loses, destroys in any manner, or from whom lottery tickets or any fractions thereof have been illegally appropriated or stolen, who, in due time, wishes to institute a claim in the event the lottery tickets win prizes, shall file with the Director of the Bureau of the Lottery or send by certified mail, a sworn statement no later than twenty-four (24) hours before the date on which the drawing corresponding to said tickets or fractions of tickets is to be held. In case of illegal appropriation or theft of tickets or fractions thereof, the person from whom they were illegally appropriated or stolen must also notify the nearest police station. The fact that there was a loss, destruction or illegal appropriation or theft of the tickets or fractions thereof must be stated in said sworn statement as well as the circumstances involved therein. In case illegal appropriation or theft of the tickets or fractions thereof is alleged, the sworn statement shall include the number of the complaint assigned by the Police Department. In this case, the funds belonging to the prizes of lottery tickets or fractions thereof in dispute shall remain in the “Lottery Fund” until the right to collect them is awarded. If after the term of six (6) months granted in § 122 of this title for the collection of winning tickets, there are still unpaid tickets or fractions thereof to which the aforementioned sworn declaration refers, and the procedure established in subsection (b) of this section has not been initiated, the Director of the Bureau of the Lottery shall proceed to make the payment of the corresponding prize to the person who signed the sworn statement.
(b) When two (2) or more persons who have given the sworn statement required in subsection (a) of this section claim the right to be paid the prize of a lottery ticket or fraction thereof, the amount of which does not exceed five hundred dollars ($500), the Secretary of the Treasury, on the request of any of the claimants, may direct that a hearing be held to provide for the administrative disposition of the claims.
(c) The Secretary of the Treasury shall notify each claimant of the date and place of the hearing, no later than ten (10) days before it is held. The notice shall specify the lottery ticket or tickets, or fractions thereof whose prize is claimed as well as the names of the claimants.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall allow each claimant to appear personally, or represented by counsel, to be present when the evidence is offered, to have a reasonable opportunity to inspect all the documentary evidence, to question the witnesses and offer evidence in support of their claim. It shall not be necessary to follow the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979, App. III, Title 32, in the hearings.
(d) The Secretary of the Treasury shall keep a file on the proceedings of the hearings. Within a reasonable term, which shall not exceed ninety (90) working days counting from the date on which the hearing is held, the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue a resolution thereon stating his decision, with a summary of his conclusions in support thereof. Said resolution shall be served to each claimant.
(e) Any claimant affected by the resolution of the Secretary of the Treasury may file an appeal for review before the Court of First Instance, San Juan Part, within the term of thirty (30) days, counting from the date the notice of the resolution was deposited in the mail to the claimants. The decision of the Court of First Instance may be reviewed by a writ of certiorari.
(f) The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby empowered to establish, through regulations, the procedure to be followed for the holding of the administrative hearing authorized in subsection (b) of this section.
History —May 15, 1947, No. 465, p. 1022, § 10; June 24, 1968, No. 124, p. 286, § 9; July 26, 1979, No. 3, p. 920, § 1; June 3, 1983, No. 78, p. 173, § 1, eff. 90 days after June 3, 1983.