The Fiji Rugby Union has today been ordered to reimburse $10 to those people that had earlier bought their RWC lottery tickets for $20 as well as to refrain from proceeding with the disbursal of the prize money to the eventual winners.
This is after an investigation was carried out by the Commerce Commission into the FRU ticket sales and draw carried out on Thursday.
Commission Chairman Doctor Mahendra Reddy said they noted that while the tickets were initially sold for $20, the same tickets were then sold at $10 when the prizes for the tickets were all the same and this put those that had bought the tickets at $20 at an advantage as their probability of winning was reduced relative to those that had bought it for $10.
Dr Reddy said their investigation has revealed that FRU had breached the Commerce Commission Decree 2010 - FRU has been found to be in contravention of the Commerce Decree for deceptive or misleading conduct, for unconscionable conduct, for false or misleading representation, for misleading conduct in relation to goods and for failure to provide gifts and prizes as offered.
He added that FRU had 5 days to show cause as to why they should not be fined for each breach of the Decree.
Doctor Reddy said as a result, this would mean that the winners of the initial lottery draw will not be given their prizes until FRU meets the criteria.
When contacted yesterday afternoon, FRU Board Chairman Bill Gavoka refused to make any comments on the issue.
The Commerce Commission has given FRU 5 days to show cause as to why they should not be fined $25,000 for each breach of the Decree and another 10 days to reimburse $10 to every person who has bought the lottery ticket at $20.
Once the Commission is satisfied then a decision will be made on what is the next course of action.
The draw which was made last Thursday saw the eventual winner walk away $100,000 richer with the second prize being $70,000 and the third prize being $30,000.
Story by: Paradise Tabucala
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FRU Lottery payout put on hold
