An Algerian migrant staying illegally in Belgium is fighting to claim a 250,000-euro ($270,000) jackpot prize won on a scratchcard. However, authorities are insisting he will only receive the money if he can prove his identity. 

"My client is in an illegal situation, he has no papers and no bank account," the 28-year-old's lawyer Alexander Verstraete said on Friday. 

"We are looking for those documents that can prove his identity. He will have to contact his family in Algeria."

READ MORE

Floating train tipped for speed record

Telling China's story: Michael Wood

Sweden and Finland look towards NATO

Verstraete said the winning lotto card was being held by a court in the town of Bruges, after his client's friends unsuccessfully tried to claim it on his behalf. 

Police detained his friends, also from North Africa, for a night on suspicion of theft. They were released when the real winner and his lawyer brought the matter to the authorities. 

The winning ticket was bought a few weeks ago in Zeebrugge, a Belgian port city where migrants often try to reach England by stowing away in trucks or containers. 

Verstraete said the authorities had promised not to deport his client, who does not intend to apply for asylum in Belgium, until he had received his prize. 

The five-euro scratchard originally offered a "one in 3.69 chance" of winning some sort of payout, according to the national lottery website.

Winners can usually get the pay out from local retailers, but for prizes of more than 100,000 euros the winner must go to the company's headquarters in Brussels.

That is where the winner's three friends went, said Joke Vermoere, spokeswoman for the national lottery: "The winner did not show up at our place, we have not seen him, which is blocking the procedure for the awarding of the prize for the time being."

She did not say exactly what documents were needed to claim the win.

"It is in the hands of the public prosecutor's office in Bruges," she said.