Members of a Belgian lottery pool who thought they had won 27 million euros (US$35.8 million) were devastated when they found the wrong numbers had been entered.
The group of 30 from Mouscron, south-west of Brussels, had been using the same numbers to enter the Euro Millions jackpot for weeks.
Members of the syndicate started to celebrate when their numbers came up in Friday's draw, reports the BBC.
However, the person in charge of buying the ticket had allowed the machine to choose Quick Picks (random numbers) instead.
Local cafe owner Christiane Farvacque said, "One of us came into the cafe after the draw on Friday and said we had won 27m euros. We were all celebrating. Everyone was calling family and friends."
When she phoned lottery organizers, she was told there had been no winning entry.
"We knew something was wrong," she added. "We spent all night trying to find out what had happened."
After tracking down the person who bought the ticket — the local bookshop owner, they realized their normal numbers had not been entered.
"We were all bitterly disappointed. You think you are the only winners in Europe, but you end up with nothing."
Mrs Farvacque said she cannot forgive her friend for the mistake. "Even in 20 years' time, my hair will stand up on end whenever I see her."
Another example of why you should never play with a pool of players, unless it's a casual social thing and you play knowing that mistakes (and backstabbing) can happen.
Another example of why you should never play with a pool of players, unless it's a casual social thing and you play knowing that mistakes (and backstabbing) can happen.
And another story to show that if you are meant to win you will ... if your not you wont. Sorry to hear about the situation. I would not be happy either.
Oh man! what an anti climax. I wonder if anyone in the group of winners had gone ahead and told their boss what they thought of them, like "you know Chris you are ............ so take this job and.................."lol. I know i always replay that sitiwation in my mind everytime i play the lottery lol.
It is as much a fault of all the other players, as it is the person responsible for buying the tickets.
If you're going to participate in a lottery pool (which itself is a BAD IDEA), you should make it an absolute requirement that all participating members have a photocopy of all the tickets, prior to the drawing.
Obviously the people in this pool did not, or they would have caught the error. For all they knew, the numbers were not played properly in previous drawings also.
I don't play in pools and I still check my tickets at the counter before leaving. I still would keep the "mistakes" but I bet the same numbers and expect to get the correct slips.
This must have been a heartbreaking experience. I'd be devastated which is why I never miss a drawing!! The chances of this happening are soooooo slim, but I guess we have to assume it's true. I've heard people tell me "I would have won $15M had I played my regular numbers last week." I never know if it's true.
Quote: Originally posted by Raven62 on Dec 12, 2006
Each Member of the Lottery Pool should also hold every other Member of the Lottery Pool Accountable to Pay their Share of the Pool in a Timely Manner.
Yeah, and we should all be beautiful, live to 150 and never be sick a day in our lives. If you're in a pool, people are going to miss their payments once in a while. That's just a fact of life, and the only thing you can do is plan for it ahead of time. If the people in this pool didn't plan for people not chipping in, or if this is the result of what the plan called for when people don't chip in, they got the had they were dealt.
I am very sorry to hear the story. I have read the same situation story but wife and husband instead. The wife ask for her husband to by self picked number but he forgot at that fatal night...and sadly, the drawing number matched it ...when she knew...she chased him and attacked him until he visit the hospital...
That why i never ask someone to keep remember the number I piked. For long failure, they usually think it is very hard and impossible to win!
Here we go again 30 people in a pool so far nothing is wrong. One of the people is playing the numbers for the group again nothing is wrong. What is wrong is it that none of the other 29 people didn't ask did you play our numbers ? Why didn't that take place ? Or even ask to see the numbers, that is just blind faith. I guess blind faith gets you nothing, as least inquiring about it you gets you a second chance.
Lucky146 wrote
"On the bright side these people now have a great opportunity to practice compassion and forgiveness"
Another example of why you should never play with a pool of players, unless it's a casual social thing and you play knowing that mistakes (and backstabbing) can happen.
And another story to show that if you are meant to win you will ... if your not you wont. Sorry to hear about the situation. I would not be happy either.
Oh man! what an anti climax. I wonder if anyone in the group of winners had gone ahead and told their boss what they thought of them, like "you know Chris you are ............ so take this job and.................."lol. I know i always replay that sitiwation in my mind everytime i play the lottery lol.
Bummer!! Too lazy too fill out the bet slip, and look what happened. She didn't win the lottery, she won 37 new enemies.
This STORY is enough to TICK anyone OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
....PSYKOMO has GREAT RESPECT for all of the people of
Belgian, but.........I am at loss for WORDS on this EXAMPLE
& THIS is NOT "MY" IDEAL...................QUICK-PICK!!!!!!
In our group.........ODK buy's a LOT of QUICK-PIC's............
We have no contract......OTHER than TRUST & we TRUST
in ALL of our FANS thru-out THIS WORLD that we WILL
GIVE ALL......................OUR BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL
PSYKOMO
You know what my take on this is?
It is as much a fault of all the other players, as it is the person responsible for buying the tickets.
If you're going to participate in a lottery pool (which itself is a BAD IDEA), you should make it an absolute requirement that all participating members have a photocopy of all the tickets, prior to the drawing.
Obviously the people in this pool did not, or they would have caught the error. For all they knew, the numbers were not played properly in previous drawings also.
This is an example of each member of the pool holding the person accountable to play the tickets as per the pool.
If no one is keeping taps on the person who is purchasing the tickets then this is what you get!.
Sad story indeed but it is what you get. :(
I wonder how long before a lawsuit is filed?
I don't play in pools and I still check my tickets at the counter before leaving. I still would keep the "mistakes" but I bet the same numbers and expect to get the correct slips.
This must have been a heartbreaking experience. I'd be devastated which is why I never miss a drawing!! The chances of this happening are soooooo slim, but I guess we have to assume it's true. I've heard people tell me "I would have won $15M had I played my regular numbers last week." I never know if it's true.
Each Member of the Lottery Pool should also hold every other Member of the Lottery Pool Accountable to Pay their Share of the Pool in a Timely Manner.
wow...what a heartbreaker. Although $36m after taxes and split 30 ways - while a nice chunk of change - is far from being on easy street.
On the bright side these people now have a great opportunity to practice compassion and foregiveness.
Yeah, and we should all be beautiful, live to 150 and never be sick a day in our lives. If you're in a pool, people are going to miss their payments once in a while. That's just a fact of life, and the only thing you can do is plan for it ahead of time. If the people in this pool didn't plan for people not chipping in, or if this is the result of what the plan called for when people don't chip in, they got the had they were dealt.
I am very sorry to hear the story. I have read the same situation story but wife and husband instead. The wife ask for her husband to by self picked number but he forgot at that fatal night...and sadly, the drawing number matched it ...when she knew...she chased him and attacked him until he visit the hospital...
That why i never ask someone to keep remember the number I piked. For long failure, they usually think it is very hard and impossible to win!