A restaurant boss in England was ordered yesterday to split a disputed £1 million (US$1.7 million) lottery payout with one of his waiters — who claimed he dreamed they would win a fortune together.
Judge Mark Gosnell told Hayati Kucukkoylu he must hand £500,000 of the EuroMillions prize to Fatih Ozcan.
The High Court heard Ozcan was so convinced they would win he "pestered" Kucukkoylu into buying tickets with him, sharing the stake and jointly choosing the lottery numbers.
But when the waiter's dream came true, businessman Kucukkoylu insisted the winnings were all his.
A bitter dispute ensued in which the restaurant owner threatened Ozcan and swore at him — and was then arrested after his employee accused him of stealing the ticket.
In his ruling, Judge Gosnell said, "Mr. Kucukkoylu and Mr. Ozcan entered into a contract to jointly play the lottery on an equal basis. The prize money should be shared equally between them."
The court heard the waiter spent three hours persuading Kucukkoylu, 47, to play EuroMillions with him. Judge Gosnell said, "He dreamed he was holding a large bundle of cash and standing in front of him was his boss.
"Mr. Ozcan is a strong believer in the power of dreams and interpreted this to mean they would win the lottery."
After Kucukkoylu agreed, the waiter went to a supermarket to buy tickets, which he handed to his boss but kept the receipt.
After the £1 million win, the restaurant owner claimed he won alone, but Ozcan was adamant that he chose some of the numbers, paid half of the stake — and had inspired the joint bid with his dream.
Kucukkoylu was held in police custody for nine hours after Ozcan called Camelot and reported the ticket stolen.
Ozcan later admitted he lied about the theft but said his boss had threatened him, leaving him "fearful for his safety".
The judge saw CCTV from the Kapadokya Turkish restaurant in York showing slips being filled in. It suggested both men chose numbers and each paid half the stake.
Judge Gosnell said Ozcan was "an admitted liar" but his story was "inherently more plausible". He added, "I cannot see why he would be so determined to make his employer play if he was not to benefit.
"It is much more likely he would badger his employer if he dreamed they had played together and he needed his employer to play for the dream to come true."
Misleading headline....waiter's entitled to half the winnings because he paid half the stake....not because he predicted the win.
, LottoMetro. Without CCTV, this waiter would have been in big trouble for his actions towards his boss, Police, and Camelot!!! Saved.
Humans being evil. What a surprise. Don't share lottery tickets or get into a lottery pool without written agreement! Or just buy your own dam ticket. :-)
man! GREED is ugly!!!
Your employee practically begs you to play the lotto with him and when the numbers
come up you try to cheat him and keep it all to yourself? wow!
I'm glad the judge did what was right and spilt the winnings between both men. Some people are just greedy and shysters who are willing to steal from others. Even if they are your colleagues or friends, some people don't care and they will take what isn't theirs if they can get away with it.
Well said.
The story should have been more clear about HOW MANY tickets they bought. I mean,if you dreamt numbers that you were sure were going to come up why on earth would you beg ANYONE to play with you unless you couldn't afford the tickets. Surely the waiter could have afforded a few tickets himself and won the whole thing without involving his boss at all. Crazy story.
I like to know what the numbers was
Heres some headlines for youll...........Dads ex wife of 21 years takes all daughters inhertances....Yes Greed is so ugly,,,to top it off the B gives the house to her grandson,,,,,,dad owed her 10 thousand dollars in divorce so he never took her name off deed..Thanks dad.
SCJ109157. You have to match three letters and six numbers on the Euro millions- millionaire raffle.
I believe in his dream his boss was part of his win. Therefore, he had to purchase the tickets with his boss that is why he pestered him for hours to buy the tickets with him.
The power of your dreams. There was also a mega millions winner from last October who $189 million, that said he had a dream of the winning numbers the night before he won. I also had a couple of dreams of winning $2,000,000 on a scratch off but I always keep forgetting to buy a ticket.
True Some do have dreams that they know for sure will come true and sometimes it happens!
He saw his boss win with him and up until then maybe his boss seemed like a nice guy, you get to
see peoples true colors when money comes into play!
They're both dirtbags