Libro Quinto Título XIX. Loterías y rifas; apuestas y juegos

Participation or interest in a lottery or raffle shall be proven only by the ticket or document legally issued.

The rights arising from the bearer ticket belong to the holder thereof, without having to justify the manner in which he acquired it.

If the ticket is nominative, the transfer shall be effected by equally nominative endorsement.

The drawing must be held with the intervention of the competent authority; and except as provided in special laws, the drawing may not be held without the authority itself causing it to be stated in the record that at least eighty percent of the tickets issued have been sold, and that the unsold tickets have been withdrawn and destroyed.

The proceeds from the sale of tickets shall be held on deposit until those favored in the drawing have been paid, unless the entrepreneur or responsible person furnishes sufficient guarantee in the judgment of the judicial authority.

If for any reason the drawing is not held on the date indicated on the tickets or in the duly authorized extension, ticket holders may demand a refund of the value they represent.

The lawfully issued ticket or participation document is an enforceable title to claim payment of winnings or the refund of amounts paid if the lottery or raffle is not held, and no set-off or novation of contract may be raised to evade payment.

The entrepreneur or responsible person are obligated to pay the prize of the ticket upon presentation thereof, unless there is a judicial order, in which case the value shall be deposited with the person or institution designated by the judge.

Apart from the foregoing provisions, lotteries or raffles, when permitted, shall be subject to the special laws and regulations governing this matter.

There is no action to claim what is won in bets or games.

The loser may not recover what he has voluntarily paid, unless fraud has intervened, or he was a minor or a person disqualified from administering his property.

Recovery is also available upon request of the spouse of the party who lost, when the amount paid deprives them of the economic means necessary for family needs, in which case the judge may compel the party who won to restore the amount covering the ordinary and normal expenses of the family.

Gambling or betting debts may neither be compensated nor converted by novation into civilly enforceable obligations.

Whoever has signed an obligation arising from a gambling or betting debt may annul it by proving the real cause of the obligation.

If a gaming or betting obligation has been given the form of an order or bearer instrument, the subscriber must pay it to the bearer in good faith, without prejudice to any actions that may lie against the winner.

When persons avail themselves of chance as a means to divide common things or to terminate disputes, it shall produce, in the first case, the effects of a lawful partition and in the second, those of a compromise.