BRIDGEPORT, Ct. — Money doesn't always buy happiness especially when it involves two friends fighting over a winning Powerball ticket.
Last week, Armando Martins, a drywall installer from Trumbull and Nino Nascimento, a local mason, agreed to settle their three-year legal battle in state Superior Court over a $1 million winning ticket.
Under the terms of the settlement, reached before Judge Barbara Bellis, Martins will get $630,000 while Nascimento gets $370,000.
Both Martins and Nascimento declined comment on the settlement. However, Nascimento's wife, Creuza, made it clear she was not happy with the outcome.
Martins and Nascimento had been friends, meeting for lunch at Carmelina's Restaurant, playing cards every day and buying Powerball tickets together twice a week.
"We agreed that Nuno would decide how many tickets he wanted to buy, and I would then give him one-half of the cash and Nuno would then buy the tickets," Martins stated in a lawsuit. "We agreed that we would share any winnings on a 50-50 basis."
Martins states in the suit, he and Nascimento were having lunch in February 2009 when Nascimento asked him for $75 to buy Powerball tickets for that night's drawing.
"I gave Nuno $74, I didn't give him $75 because I did not have that exact amount on me," according to the lawsuit.
One of the tickets purchased by Nascimento at a local grocery store hit for $1 million, according to the suit, but Nascimento didn't tell Martins about the win.
Instead, Martins contends that Nascimento and his wife, Creuza, presented the winning ticket at lottery headquarters and collected a check for $700,000 after taxes.
Martins states that he subsequently heard from others he knows in the local Portuguese community that Nascimento had won the lottery.
"I asked Nuno if he had won the lottery and he told me he had not won," Martins states in the lawsuit. Nascimento instead had claimed he had received a windfall from selling property in Portugal, according to the lawsuit.
Martins said Nascimento has since conceded he may have won some money in the lottery, and offered to give Martins $375 as his share.
The Connecticut Lottery Corp. held the winnings pending resolution of the court case.
Thanks to lottoballz for the tip.
Here we go again, whenever 2 or more players are involved, it gets messy. He said, she said, someone forgot to pay their weekly share of the lotto pool......blah......blah......blah.
Then BOOM! a ticket hits the big time, then everything's got to be sorted out. Usually by a judge or lottery commission. Makes for good newsfeed fodder however!
Never,never,never play the lottery with another person!No matter how good of a friend the other person is,the money will change one of you,and not for the better.I've seen this happen so many times that it is becoming commonplace.
NO NO NO.
1)Never hand over your money to someone else.
2)Money will always destroy any friendship, marriage or family relationship
3)Repeat Rules 1 + 2
Congrats to the winners, even if it is a big mess.
This is why "I HATE LOTTO POOLS".BEST WAY TO END A FRIENDSHIP TOO. At work the guys would always ask me to get into a pool ,and i would always say "no"..One day the group of 16 of them hit for 5 grand.In New York your only aloud ten in a pool ..who didn't want taxes taking out ..who wanted the payout on the years ,who was getting more money because they went and got the tickets...what a nightmare...Well after that the pool broke up and nobody talks to one another any more..Ididn't say a word..
LOL sully!
Well, something is better than nothing and they should be happy with winning and move on now.
Something tells me though, these are the kinds of people who won't let it go.
Best to go it alone. Always.
Pool/partner(s) and money do not mix.
Heck neither does family. They get jealous and eaten up by envy too.
I suspect the wife is behind most of the sh** that resulted in the win.
Not saying Nascimento didn't have a hand in it.
I understand why the judgement gave Martins the larger share.
When Martins asked Nascimento if he won the lottery, Nascimento lied.
Then to add insult to the whole situation Nascimento offered Martins only $375.
That in itself is one of those things that would make a judge give the whole kit-n-kaboodle to the plaintiff.
The wife, Creuza, needs to park her butt in a corner and shut her mouth and be grateful that they didn't walk away with nothing.
Let this be a lesson to anyone who play the lottery with other people.
Large amounts of money will most definitely change people.
Doe's that mean you won't go half with me on my Powerball pool Cletu$2???
Are you kidding me ???? How pathetic can someone be ??? Talk about being "gormless" and having ZERO integrity.
Read my lips:NO!
BOO-HOO!
Aw,you're cryin' now ,but I think you'll be happy when you win and you don't have to share it with anyone,including me!
I agree with others here: it's best to win by yourself. That way, no one can get screwed over... unless you're schizophrenic.
This Nacimiento (sp) character sounds like a real jerk. Not telling your friend you won the lottery, then lying about winning it, then offering a dishonest $375 buyout. His wife sounds like a money grubber as well; hopefully, her not being happy follows her around the rest of her life...
Serves the Nacimento's right.....Had they did right by Mr. Martin they would have had a 50/50 split instead of only 1/3 of the money. This should be a lesson to Mr. Martin though, BUY YOU OWN TICKETS! Then next time there will not be any disputes. It's funny how money changes people...I'm sure his wife put him up to it, but that still is no excuse now they have lost a portion of the money and her husband has lost a friend. In the end was it really worth it? NO
Oh......wait a minute......wait a minute......your right . It would be all mine .....ALL MINE!!!!
Sorry Cletu$2, so very sorry......what ever was I thinking???
"Both Martins and Nascimento declined comment on the settlement. However, Nascimento's wife, Creuza, made it clear she was not happy with the outcome."
Had they gone to "The Peoples Court" we could have heard all the "bleeps" while Mrs. Nascimento was being interviewed.
At least now we know why so many people want to form trusts to remain anonymous.
See? I just saved you a ton of money...and I ain't even gonna charge you for it ;~)
Good thing he heard about it through the grapevine.
If he was in with somebody in oh, say Canada, for example, he might have never heard about the win and gotten ripped off.
Happens all the time.
they both broke the 11th commandment. doth shalt not split lottery tickets with another person and must abstain from joining any type of lottery pool.
i offered to go halves with a buddy, here for the $30 mill powerball., he said
" buy what ever, and tell me what i owe ya "
i like the guy, ------ and if i had money problems i wouldnt play. so i covered him.
hell i used a player registration card in his name on it to buy the ticket, then wrote my name and adress on the back of the ticket. I do think i know a few real jerks now, but this guy aint one of them. and neither am I
we'll be ok'
My coworker and I play the lottery everyday together. We buy our tickets a week at a time, and we have never fought about it. We play two eve 3 digit numbers, two evev4 digit numbers, three eve quinto numbers and two mid treasure hunt, each day. I used to run a pool at work but it would always expode into most everyone going in on it, and I'd put in for a few who "didn't have it on them" but by the time they paid me back it was already over and they made a comment to the effect of them paying me for losing tickets, so I don't do it anymore. No more than 2 peple I'd say, but this is my best friend.
Well,he might be your best friend now,but,will he still be your best friend if/when you hit for a million dollars or more?Money does strange things to people and friendships.Reread this story,the two guys were best friends,too.Now their not.Case closed.
I wouldn't hear of it. Please mail me your invoice.
If you insist.I want 1/2 when you win.But I ain't sharing with NOBODY when I win!
I hate lottery pools
lottery pools are only good if there is trust,honesty and integrity among the pool members,make sure every one gets a copy then there is no doubt about it . in this case nascimento played a trick and was a liar IMHO he should not get a single penny
Trust, honesty and integrity are great things, but if you have a well-written policy that spells out the rules you'll still be okay without them.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sad....sad....sad.....
New slogan...JUST SAY NO TO LOTTERY POOLS.
Good policy, gocart1.
The only lottery pool anyone should ever even conceive of joining would be one where you know the other members well and you can get your boot in close proximity to their teeth or your hands around their neck. And even that is risky sometimes.
But the worst is getting involved with anybody outside the country, online or otherwise. That's just asking to get ripped off.