INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — There is a developing "prize fight" over a $9.5 million Hoosier Lotto jackpot.
An Indianapolis, Indiana, hair stylist says she won it all, but her co-workers say they pooled their money to buy the winning ticket, and they should split it. Now that jackpot is frozen until further notice.
Eight stylists from an east side hair salon were feeling lucky when they chipped in on a work pool last week. One of those stylists bought the tickets for the group and then tickets for herself. When those winning numbers were announced Saturday, one of those tickets won. But the woman who bought them said it was her ticket that won, not one of the pool tickets.
Here's where things get a little bit messy. Had that woman brought her winning ticket to the Hoosier Lottery headquarters, she would have claimed her money no questions asked. Instead, she went to the salon first and told them their pool didn't win, but she did. That's when they decided to file a court order to freeze that money.
That court order was filed in Marion County Court. According to the attorney on behalf of the stylists, Scott Montross, "We wanted to slow down the train until we can figure things out. My clients want to be satisfied and want to know exactly how things developed. That's why we filed a restraining order freezing the money."
Tracy Williams just happened to be buying tickets for her office pool Thursday night at the same Speedway that sold Saturday's winning ticket. She considers her plan foolproof.
"I make copies at work and pass them out at work," said Tracy.
So the big question for the judge: Can the woman who bought the lottery ticket prove she bought her wining ticket separately from the pool tickets? If not, $9 million may be split eight different ways.
Yep, here we go again, curious to see how this will play out in court.
"Our pool ticket didn't win but mine did." What an idiot.
"I make copies at work and pass them out at work," said Tracy.
If she made copies of the tickets and passed them out to everyone in the pool then she should be home free. Everyone will be able to see what tickets she purchased in the pool. Right?
Did she provide a copy of the tickets to everyone?
If she did, then whats the problem? Was the wining numbers among the copied tickets?
Thats why I must receive a copy of the tickets or No deal for me.
GREED always shows its ugly face.
Just share the dang tickt. sheesh.
no Ronnie their not taking bets on this fight
i bet they will be a lot of hair pulling
Mmmmm...hair stylists in a cat fight over a lotto ticket....sounds like good material for a reality T.V. show or movie.
I'm thinking a cross between Hairspray/Lottery Ticket/Gladiator and Judge Judy.
she didn't make copies. another woman who also bought tickets there said this.
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Tracy Williams just happened to be buying tickets for her office pool Thursday night at the same Speedway that sold Saturday's winning ticket. She considers her plan foolproof.
"I make copies at work and pass them out at work," said Tracy.
more like Jerry springer
Wow can't they just split it and be done...maybe when people fight over Lottery tickets the Lottery office should just VOID IT and then no one gets anything hows that RULE
That would be an excellent solution if the winning ticket had been among the tickets belonging to the pool, but it wasn't.
Tracey "Mirlande" Williams.
Greed is a deadly sin indeed.
What else would you expect from the other 8 stylists? Of course they're gonna want a "cut".
I have always said "If you are buying tickets for any pool you buy them at one store all the time!" "Then if you are also buying tickets for yourself you go to a different store to buy your personal tickets!"
Never buy the pool and personal tickets at the same freaking store!!!! NEVER!!!!
Geez makes me want to join a pool at work asap...................play alone, play alone.
I bet they all voted for Obama, so it tickles me pink (and I am a black man) when this happen to such folk. I only like to swim and wade in a pool...never will be a part of a lottery pool, no thank you.
I predict that the only person who will end up rich over this fiasco is the lawyer that took the case.NEVER PLAY IN A LOTTERY POOL!!!
Stuff like this makes me think maybe I should shut down the lottery pool I run. It started as just me and my office mate, then it grew to 13 members, and has dropped to 11 with 2 retirements. I always give copies of the tickets to all participants, so there's no question about what tickets are in the pool.
If my pool does win, hopefully there won't be any disputes like this.
LOL, I wonder if she hid the ticket at micky d's,
I wonder how angry those women, I wouldn't want them using scissors near me for awhile.
Giving everybody copies of the ticktets could make it more difficult for her to rip off the rest of the pool if one of the pool tickets wins. It does nothing to keep the rest of the pool from attemting to steal most of the prize if the winning ticket is hers.
Please NO not again...lol
that's what i was thinking, but if i did and i also played on my own i think, i would buy my personal tickets another day at a different store all together so there would not be any confusions or accusations time/ date/ numbers/ wouldn't match any copies of the pool numbers/time/date etc.
Everyone's Happy except the losers their jealous.
With that kinda money at stake, some people will sue you even knowing they're in the wrong but hoping a slick lawyer can get them a piece of your money anyway.
There's no honor anymore with a lot of people.
Sad ... but true!!!
If the cost of the tickets copied = the money supplied by the pool. then she should be good to go. if there is a discrepency , then theres a whole wolrd of pain. at least there is copies. also as long as these copies where distributed BEFORE the draw. not afterwards
The problem with playing in a lottery pool is if you ever win any money on your own, they want to be treated like family and share every thing you've won regardless.
no , I don't think there was copies. that was said by another person buying tickets at the same store.
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Tracy Williams just happened to be buying tickets for her office pool Thursday night at the same Speedway that sold Saturday's winning ticket. She considers her plan foolproof.
"I make copies at work and pass them out at work," said Tracy.
Cut, right!!! Funny!
oic this tracy williams is another customer not the one running the pool,. why even put it in the news story then. jeez.
so the plan if you where a scammy pool organizer is buy multiples tickets, and what ever tickets los, is the one you say the pool bought. and what ever win you say is yours.
Yes, PrisonerSix, it is a good idea to shut down your lottery pool. The several that have won 1st and 2nd place prizes through this past couple of decades have often become big headaches for everyone involved. Certainly, a lot of members here have mentioned/shown how even the "best" run, contracted, lottery pools have enough holes in them where a halfway diligent lawyer for someone suing your pool would at least be able to get their client a hefty settlement, if not a win before a judge; which would require an even share split with the other "official pool member winners."
Oh, savagegoose, I didn't catch that detail about Tracy!!! Maybe the LotteryPost article writer was trying to trick us, if so, it worked with most of us.
Wow! So how many times in the past have we been tricked by these LP article writers.
This really sucks but I still play in a pool. I would not ever wish to be making news for pulling out or refusing to enter a work pool and end up like this NY man https://www.lotterypost.com/news/229659 or this Chicago man https://www.lotterypost.com/news/117884. Its not easy.
I little help michigan they kill my pocket like 1 off close dont cut it
I agree, if she made copies and handed them out, then she may have a case, all they have to do is deny getting the copies, would like to hear more on this story
ditto that
Maybe all the tickets were shuffled together and she could not tell which was which?
I used to run an office pool with 4 people and I would buy the tickets and make copies and give them out to the people prior to the drawing.
HULLO - common sense right?????????????????
And we also had a signed agreement with the tickets stating that if any of these tickets win we split it 4 ways.
MONEY changes people in one instant. It's called "GREED IN AMERICA" - LOL
well said
True, they could very well deny they ever received their copy.
That's why I put the hardcopy tickets thru a scanner and make a PDF file of them. Then I e-mail the PDF file containing the tickets to everyone in the pool, tagged with an acknowledgement that comes back to me via return e-mail when the pool members open the e-mail with the tickets.
I also retain the original e-mail I sent in my sent basket.
I do these kinds of things not only to protect myself, but to protect the other members of the pool as well.
I too will be interested to see how this matter is eventually resolved.
America is the only place greed changes people?
Nice work G5
Perhaps the story was a reading comprehension test. I failed........
yeah awesome work on protecting yourself and the pool, i dont do anything like that but im not doing a work one, justa family one , and one with a few freinds. fact i have two is a worry, never know what people are likely to do when money is involved. think ill pass off the pals one to someone else so im only running 1. ive read enough. i should know better by now.
I think its only a problem when you step forward and say "I won, but everyone else lost"
Thats a great idea, wishing your group good luck
yeah that's it
Well of course they would want a cut.
Afterall, they were all dye-ing to win.
But they want the money to be permanent.
He'll be here all week, try the veal.
When will people learn? SIGN YOUR <snip> TICKETS!
They may have a case.
If for instance I bought 5 groups of $10 tickets and then bought 1 more for myself, then the tickets coded (lets say serial numbers) should be sequentially numbered 1,2,3,4,5 and the 6 for mine. If she passed out the wrong sequence of serial numbers-----lets say she gave the tickets numbered 1,2,3,4,6 and kept ticket number 5....they may win this case....if they can prove this.
I think it will be up to her to prove it was NOT a pool ticket that won. If she cant, she will have to share.
Having to share would benefit the lottery the most. I don't think the investigators will be sent on this one.
She " may" have a case, however she did say that she makes copies of the tickets. The thing is: Does she give copies of the " pools tickets" to all the parties involved BEFORE the drawing? If she does that the day following the draw, she will lose.She may very well be telling the truth that her ticket won which was purchased before or after she picked up the others.
What does not sit right with this group or any other lottery pool is that the person who buys the tickets for the group is saying she won and not the others- that is a bitter pill to swallow. If it is proven that she won her prize fair and square, she had better skip Town for destinations unknown.
The ticket was bought by Christina Shaw who works for Lou’s Creative Styles in Indianapolis, the New York Daily News reports.
Seven of her co-workers have taken her to court to demand a share of the winnings.
Ms Shaw’s colleagues claim the winning ticket was bought as part of an office lotto pool, and that Ms Shaw breached the informal rules of their pool by keeping one of the tickets for herself.
The seven women taking the case against Ms Shaw were in court on Wednesday, stating Ms Shaw “bought the ticket at the same time and place she bought those for the pool".
But Ms Shaw claims she bought the ticket at a different time and place and has no intention of giving it up.
Judge Heather Welch, who is presiding over the case, has issued a temporary restraining order, banning the state lottery from releasing the money to Ms Shaw.
Marion County Judge Welch said she would decide today whether to freeze the $9.3 million until the dispute had been settled.
Source: The New York Daily News
Author: Eleanor Ainge Roy, Approving Editor: Emily O'Keefe
well it should be a clear cut case if the facts as stated by walsh are true.
The order prohibiting the payout of the lottery ticket has been extended indefinatly. This was ruled by the judge this afternoon. The attorney for Christinia Shaw who purchased the ticket acknowledged that she purchased the ticket at the same time she purchased the tickets for the group. I think the group of 7 have a really good case there were no copies made or given out before the drawing.
Always get your paperwork straight before you buy any group tickets
" The attorney for Christinia Shaw who purchased the ticket acknowledged that she purchased the ticket at the same time she purchased the tickets for the group. "
The Ultimate question is : Were the other players given copies of their tickets BEFORE the wheel was spun.If they were- they lost,its game over.
All Ms Shaw has to do is show the judge that everyone got copies of the tickets, the losing tickets.
There is no rule to the best of my knowledge stating the following:
" No person who joins a pool may purchase personal lottery tickets on the side apart from those already bought for members of said pool"
If you go back to the original story you will notice that it was not Christina Shaw that they quoted. It was someone else that was buying tickets for a different pool that said she made copies and distrubed them. In this case that did not happen we have a person who purchased a ticket at the same time at the same place. How do you deteremine that it is her ticket and not the groups? One for the pool . . . one for me . . .
Yes, if she had made copies and passed them out before it could have been a different story.
Things get messy when it comes to money. Well I guess a good investigation will solve this one. Hopefully the one who rightfully deserves the money will get it.
The facts of the hairdressers court case concerning their winning the Indiana Lottery, you have to realize that the hairdressers are all bound by their verbal understanding and agreement that their pool money for lottery tickets would only be purchased at a specific lottery sales location, and that they all agreed that if any of them wished to purchase a lottery ticket or tickets, that the purchase would have to be made at a different location. Thus, since all of the tickets which include the winning ticket were purchased at the dealer in which they were supposed to be purchased, the winning ticket by law must be equally divided among all of the hairdressers. A legal and binding contract can be verbally agreed to by two or more individuals. The agreement therefore is factual, legal and has merit in a court case of this nature.
There's only one thing we know so far in this case regarding people getting money for sure - the lawyers are gonna make a fortune.
I can hear 'em now: "Yeah baby! High Five! Woooooo hoooooooo!"