Lottery retailer penalized for selling sports lottery tickets to minors, partially wins appeal

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) The Ministry of Culture has ordered a lottery retailer, identified as Ms. Chen, to remit NT$12,520,250 to the sports lottery surplus for selling sports lottery tickets to minors. Chen appealed the administrative ruling, and the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Thursday that the amount Chen should remit is NT$5,159,890.

Article 13, Paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Sports Lottery Issuance Act stipulate that "issuing institutions, entrusted institutions, and distributors shall not sell sports lottery tickets or pay prizes to minors." and "Issuing institutions, entrusted institutions, or distributors that violate the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall remit an amount equal to the proceeds from sales and the prizes paid into the sports lottery surplus."

According to the ruling, Ms. Chen was a distributor who obtained a second-term sports lottery distributor license on June 14, 2018. The Ministry of Culture determined that Chen's lottery shop illegally sold sports lottery tickets and paid prizes to minors in March and April 2019. Therefore, according to the law, an amount equal to the proceeds from sales and prizes paid should be remitted to the sports lottery surplus, totaling NT$12,520,250.

Chen disagreed with the ruling and filed an administrative lawsuit, which was dismissed by the Taipei High Administrative Court. Chen appealed the decision.

The Supreme Administrative Court pointed out that Article 13, Paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Sports Lottery Issuance Act, in nature, uses public authority to compel distributors not to sell sports lottery tickets or pay prizes to minors. This constitutes a "restrictive adverse disposition." While the measures taken are conducive to achieving the legislative purpose of the Sports Lottery Issuance Act, they still restrict people's property rights and must comply with the principle of proportionality under Article 23 of the Constitution.

The Supreme Administrative Court stated that the provisions of the Sports Lottery Issuance Act do not consider that distributors have already included the proceeds from sales into their surplus at the time of sale. By uniformly remitting the entire proceeds from sales into the sports lottery surplus, it is equivalent to re-calculating the proceeds that have already been included in the surplus calculation basis into the surplus in full. This results in a duplication of the proceeds that have already been remitted, violating the principle of proportionality under Article 23 of the Constitution.

The Supreme Administrative Court believes that, based on a constitutional purposive limitation interpretation, the amount equivalent to the proceeds from sales that should be remitted to the sports lottery surplus should be the sales management expenses (i.e., sales commissions) collected by Chen, which amount to NT$496,900, and the prizes to be remitted, which amount to NT$4,669,200. The court ruled that the total amount Chen should remit is NT$5,159,890. (Editor: Li Heng-shan) 1150618

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