Two-year feud over multi-million lottery win comes to an end

By Kate Northrop

A two-year feud over a multi-million lottery win has come to an end after the Australian NSW Supreme Court denied a man a share of a $5 million (US$3.37 million) prize.

An Australian man took legal action against his former neighbors and fellow lottery players, claiming he was denied his fair share of a $5 million prize, but a judge ruled that he was not entitled to any of the winnings.

Alan Way of Sydney sued two fellow elderly residents of an Elderslie Social Housing apartment, asserting they failed to give him a cut of a $5 million lottery win.

The accused residents, Mark Peter Bowling, 76, and Maya Posa, 89, countered, saying that Way had left their lottery group and stopped contributing to tickets before the win took place.

During court proceedings, it was revealed that a fight between Bowling and Way took place in September 2021 after Way and a friend named "Young Barry" partook in loud and drunken behavior in his apartment during COVID-19 social distancing measures.

Bowling and Posa said that Way left the lottery group following the argument.

On August 5, 2022, Bowling purchased the winning lottery ticket, which led to a $5 million payout eight days later. Way found out about the win later that month, but he did not know how much the group had won.

Bowling told the court he transferred $200,000 to Way on October 7, 2022, labeling it as a "gift." Then, the group members transferred their winnings to family members in ways that would avoid impacting their social security payments.

Way eventually found out about the real prize amount through another resident in the housing complex, which led to a "significant altercation." Bowling and Posa "abruptly" moved out of the apartment building after the fight, and Way proceeded to take legal action.

In court, Way stated that he was contributing regular payments of $20 for the group to purchase lottery tickets at the time of the win and produced diary entries as evidence to support the claim.

However, Justice James Hmelnitsky was not convinced.

"I am persuaded to a relatively high level of certainty that those entries were not made contemporaneously," Hmelnitsky told the court. "That being so, I am unable to accept Mr. Way's evidence that he contributed to the purchase of the winning ticket."

On Friday, Hmelnitsky ruled that Way left the lottery group after the fight with Bowling in 2021 and that he was not entitled to a portion of the winnings at the time of Bowling and Posa's win in August 2022.

Thanks to dannyct for the tip.