Mega Millions winner forced to split jackpot with co-workers

So lottery-pool man wins, regrets playing (only since he won as he most assuridly would have loved being in a pool had one of his other co-'s won), hides win, scams job with false declaration of needed and upcoming surgery, disappears for a semi-short period of time, returns claiming lottery win and IS SURPRISED that one of his co's would have checked dates to see when his win was.

So... he either figures that his co's are as stupid as he would have been, or that they are as stupid as he WISHED they were... and he found a lawyer who saw $$$ signs (ooOOoo fees, more fees!), who didnt take careful notes during their ethics portion of their training (tisk tisk) by not alerting their client of the track record that the opposing side would be able to paint for the court?

So... ... lottery-pool man hired a lawyer just like himself... and got the freedom to split his lottery jackpot with not JUST his co's but also with a bunch of lawyers...

which means... lottery-pool man is ACTUALLY very generous and wanted to share  his money with more people, AND that he views lawyers as deserving of said win-fall.

awwwwww... how sweet!

This.

End of story.

A swimming pool is the only pool I'm getting into with other people!

NEVER A LOTTERY POOL!! It's just too much trouble!!

Exactly

This story kind of hit me close to home because I run a lottery pool at work. 13 of us buy Powerball, Lotto, and MegaMillions tickets every payday that cover all of the drawings until the next payday. I also buy tickets for myself, but I take steps to make sure there is no confusion between pool tickets and my personal tickets. The tickets I buy for the pool are multidraw tickets that cover the 4 drawings between paydays, and my personal tickets for for individual draws. In addition, every member of the pool gets a copy of the tickets purchased with pool money, so there is no question of which tickets belong to the pool and which ones don't. I also rarely buy my tickets and pool tickets at the same place, as pool tickets are purchased from stores near work and my tickets are purchased at stores near my home 13 miles away. I don't know if this is enough to protect me from a situation like this, but I don't know what else I could do other than not run a pool.

You can take all the precautions in the world but that won't prevent someone in your pool from sueing you for a share of the jackpot.Its best to just buy your own your own tickets and leave the pool to those who aren't smart enough to buy their own tickets.

Excellent advice! 

A lot of pools have gone bad but most of them can be good experiences. In a previous pool that I was in, we had to basically chase down the money from players, we had one person that didn't pay for weeks and wished that we wouldn't win until she could play !!  We even had the person that was the head of the pool tell us we didn't win anything but when we looked at our ticket copy, we saw that we did win $100. and when we confronted her, she was like she didn't know we won..Lol... Even though I didn't start that pool, I took it upon myself to dismantle it because if someone were that shameful over little things, can you imagine what a large jackpot would have done?!  I even got a dismantle letter signed by each of the members so years later when I win, they have no rights to my money. Lol. My uncle the lawyer told me how to word it.  Now years later I am in another pool with 4 totally different very positive lotto players. Our pool is only for PB but we do have a signed letter by each member what we can and can't do. We use the same set of numbers that we picked together. One stipulation that was put in was that if you buy your own ticket, it could not be our set numbers. So if it was a QP that won then it's your money and you can do what you want with it.  If this gentleman did not have anything in place when he won then he should have gotten sued.  Just my opinion but I'm happy for the other workers.

"One stipulation that was put in was that if you buy your own ticket, it could not be our set numbers."

The "ownership" of a number set could probably be challenged. It can certainly be circumvented.

Granted RJOh, but I was going off what was stated in the article... The #'s that won were picked #'s. Ok so from that point like I said before all pool #'s are to "ALWAYS" to be QP's and only bought at one store each and every time!!! Your personal #'s are to be picked and "ALWAYS" purchased at another store and the same store each drawing!

You see when you can go to a judge and show that the pool QP #'s were always purchased at one store and only that one store each and every drawing you have shown and set precedent. That goes a long long way in a court of law. When you never waiver from what has always been done and you prove it to be that way, you can't lose!!

So always show that the lottery pool has always received QP's and they have "Always" been purchased at only one store from the start of you running the pool!!!! That's showing "PRECEDENT" You Can't Lose when you have shown that!!!! And that isn't hard to do if you as the person who runs the pool has any common sense and are smart enough to document/photocopy every QP ticket to CYA!!!

Wow so now instead of it being like he won 4 million, it's like he lost 20 million and 5 friends due to greed and dishonesty. He'd have enjoyed his winnings a lot more if he didn't have to go through so much trouble to deceive his coworkers...

I meant to say would be our set of numbers instead of could not..(Typing while at work is a hazard). 

and  I suppose it would if it wasn't included in the lottery letter but since it was included, No matter who's set of numbers is picked, we all get equal shares.  The chosen numbers picked are the sole property of the group and everything will be divided equally between the members, no more, no less as stipulated in the signed agreement terms.

I've never been in a lottery pool.
Stories like these make sure I never will.

Gerald Celente mentioned this story in a recent interview, as an example of increased societal corruption.