BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Connecticut man is suing a friend for a share of a $1 million lottery jackpot.
Armando Martins of Trumbull claims that he and Nuno Nascimento of Bridgeport had an agreement to buy lottery tickets every week and to share if they won.
Martins says he gave his friend $75 each week to buy tickets. On April 1, Martins said he only has $74 for his share.
The lawsuit says that evening one of the tickets that Nascimento bought at a local grocery store was a $1 million Powerball winner, but Nascimento didn't tell Martins about the prize.
Martins says Nascimento and his wife collected a check for $700,000 after taxes. Martins says his friend offered to give him $375.
Thanks to LckyLary for the tip.
There is a lesson to be learnt here. If you are going to pool with friends, family or foe always have everything in writing and signed by all parties. This way it keep a bit of honesty if you ever win a large sum. I dont care for dishonest people, I beleive that if you make an agreement with someone you should follow through with it. your word should be your bond. (my opinion)
Please note: lots of $$$$ causes amnesia in many.
I hope Martins sue him and leave him with only $375 this way it will be a lesson for Nascimento to not be so greedy.
Friendship always seems to suffer when lottery winnings enter the picture.The simple solution is to play by yourself and let your friends play by themselves.
He must have been a dear fried for him to give him $75 every week for lottery tickets, that could amount to almost $4,000 a year. For that kind of money, he should have had a written agreement even if he was buying his won tickets and agreeing to share the winnings with his friend.
By the name of your handle ( Empress-N ), you would'nt happen to work at the empress diner there in Lauderdale would yah ?
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On the other hand , I could'nt agree more of having things spelled out in an agreement. This would avoid a lot of wasted time in the courts as well as friendships...
Armando Martins's friend Nuno Nascimento was nothing like Barry Funk,the friend of Michael Hawryshko.
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/81323/174926
What a jerk! This is why I don't do pools. Better to play by yourself.
If this is true, I hope Armando Martins gets the winnings that belong to him. If the guy put in $75 a week for tickets, he deserves his fair share of the jackpot. This is one of the reasons I prefer to play alone. I don't want to have to deal with liars and thieves.
true that. never trust anyone. money do change people.
This is a classic example of how greed and selfishness destroy friendship.
Those agreements are just stupid. How do you get into an agreement like these and not have a written contract? One that addresses issues like who are the members, how the contributions will take place, HOw the winnings will be divided, how to deal with days when some member chooses not to play or days that some member gives less than the agreed sum of money.
these questions seem petty but are very real. I have refused to join many lotto groups because of these very small issues. You know a lawyer will always try to drive in the bus in the smallest loophole.
Unless the dude has a written agreement or some evidence that there was a verbal agreement. I don't see how he wins the lawsuit. Hopefully he has the greedy lottery winner on tape or hopefully a credible 3rd-party witness comes forward. Otherwise it is just a he-said she said story.
This is why I don't participate in pools. Too much risk to be short-changed.
Hum, perhaps the man is supposed to be satisfied receiving $74 of the $75 he provided from the final week's lottery pool
The lesson here is what several of the above said: get written agreements and copies of each of the drawing's tickets purchased (to show a paper trail of combined pooled money if in court). I also am sorry for spouses to these types of thieves who are put in the middle. Though, truly $75 a week submittal into a lottery pool is a HUGE investment spanning often months or years, why won't some folks draft an agreement (if you have $75 disposable income a week to spend on chance lottery tickets, one would think that person could read and write and realize that relying on one's word/trust isn't comprehensive enough)!
"best to play alone then in baaaad company"
Not shocking this incident is from Bridgeport ...
ONLY GET INVOLVED IN LOTTERY POOLS WHERE SOMEONE MAKES PHOTO COPIES OF TICKETS
END OF STORY..THIS WAY EVERYONE HAS EVIDENCE OF BEING THE WINNER
The story says Martin's friend agreed to buy him $75 worth of tickets but says nothing about any pools or agreements to share any winnings or if Martin was given the 75 tickets before the drawing. Maybe Martin's had previously shared smaller winnings with his friend for buying him tickets and thought his friend would share his winnings with him. The odd part of the story is that Martin mentions only having $74 for the one drawing when the jackpot was hit and maybe he believes the winning ticket was the 75th ticket. State laws are clear on who owns the ticket so Martin will have to prove in court there was an actual agreement to split the winnings.
For that kind of money, Martin should have bought his own tickets.
It doesn't seen like he was really a "FRIEND"
Also, if he is right, he should get proportion to his share of tickets, which is 74/75 times half of total.
This is the prime reason not to enter a pool with anyone! Heck, even contracts can be broken these days (with the right lawyer that is)!
So, what good would a contract do for you when you're in a pool?
To me there is no justification or a valid argument to be in a pool of any kind with anyone at anytime (because of the simple fact that there is no contract in the world that can't be broken)!
Screw your friend The Spirit of America HA HA !
He's not his friend anymore, that's for sure.
This wasn't a pool, players join pools to to reduce the amount they spend on lottery tickets to $5-$10 a week. Usually if a player has $75 a week to spend on lottery tickets he buys his own.
I would think it would be hard to convince a judge or a jury that he actually did that weekly and never expected any feed back from his friend or checked the tickets he bought.
Hi Maddog10, No I dont work at the Empress diner, I didnt even know there was a business with my name on it. I'm gonna look it up. I hope they serve food as sweet as me LOL.
When someone gives me money to buy a ticket, I put their name on the ticket as soon as its printed. I also write my name on mine. I try to give the person the ticket to them before the drawing (with their name on it) so there are no complications. And I hang it on their fridge door.
I mean, this happens maybe three times a year and it's only for my parents or brother BUT that could be the time when one of us actually wins. Hence, why I do the extra precautions.
Not that it matters...I usually have to check their tickets for them anyway.
When Mega went over $200 million and I was almost out of tickets, I wanted to do a road trip to get more tickets. My hubby wanted me to just call his Father and have him buy them for us and mail them to us since he lived in that state. I said no, which kind of upset my hubby. I could forsee a HUGE amount of problems if we went that route. However, it didn't matter as someone won on my last ticket, so I didn't need to go get more.
I guess I could have explained more to my husband, about what I've read here and why it's not a good idea, but he didn't seem in the mood to listen.
I can remember seeing the CT Attorney General saying on a tv program (WTIC/61's Behind The Headlines?) last year that there are no lottery contracts (recognized) in Connecticut. I mentioned this to one of my cohorts in the office pool and he doesn't seem too worried about it.
P.S. "I" happened to buy and hold the tickets to tonight's Powerball drawing!
Don't they ever learn. Every once in a blue moon"Ill read about an office pool" where a big jackpot is won and someone outside the pool will say "I WAS IN IT TOO!". This guy Armando could be doing it too. If he is telling the truth "That's too bad". He deserves to lose. Lesson here "GET IT IN WRITING".
Shame that it has to be decided by via the court. But lesson learned. This was never a friend. Money in friendships and family never mix, never. Look what happens when someone dies in the family, everyone swoops down on the belongings, property and money. More fights are over money than any other thing in life.
I have my way of playing, alone. But once I do hit the big one I plan on sending a few people some money so they don't have to work unless they want to, have the money to pay off their house and go on a wonderful vacation. Yes, I plan on winning that much.
But they will have to guess at who sent the money because I will be long gone on my own lifetime vacation. LOL!
I was in a pool at work but everyone got a copy of the tickets to take home so you knew if you won. This could have been prevented if one would buy the tickets every other week, taking turns.
I always enjoy reading your take on things. "I have my way of playing, alone." I think it could not be said any better.
You know these kind of stories are always scary to me. I mean, ANYONE could say "we had an agreement to split the winnings and I gave so and so xxx amount of dollars".....co-workers, so called friends, family, etc. I mean how does the Lottery Commission handle these types of claims if there is nothing in writing? I always play my own lottery and have never been a part of any pool or anything like that but let's say I happened to win a large amount of money.....who's to say someone couldn't come forward and say "we were suppose to split the winnings?" How would the Lottery Commission handle this type of claim?
If you collect your winnings before you tell everyone you've won then it's out of the hands of the lottery commission, your friends and buddies will have to sue you and settle it in court.
Money is the root of all evil. Play by yourself. If you win then only your nagging family you have to deal with.