Members of a Victoria, Australia, lottery pool are taking Tattersalls Sweeps to court, alleging a former colleague kept a $16.6 million lottery win to himself.
The members want the Victorian Supreme Court to order Tatts to provide the name of the winner of Austrailian Powerball jackpot draw 961 in October last year, who they believe to be their colleague, and how the ticket was bought.
The syndicate, a group of 14 Geelong workers, believe the man was one of three winners of a $50 million division one Powerball jackpot, Fairfax Media reports.
Tattersalls, or Tatts, is the operator of lottery games in Austrailia. The Powerball game operated by Tatts is a big-jackpot lottery game, but is not to be confused with the American multi-state Powerball game of the same name.
Tatts Lotteries said as the matter was subject to court proceedings it would be inappropriate to comment.
But at the time of the draw, Tatts issued a press release that detailed the three jackpot winners — a Powerball player from Western Australia, a Melbourne couple and a Victorian man.
It said the Victorian man purchased his Powerball 50-game entry online.
Fairfax reported the man who belonged to the Geelong syndicate collected $20 each week from his co-workers to enter the draw.
The Victorian winner was quoted by Tatts as saying he was in a state of "disbelief".
"I don't need that amount of money. It's too much for me," he told a Tatts official at the time.
"I'm going to share the prize money with my family.
"I'll make sure it doesn't change who I am but I'll definitely be able to live a better lifestyle, with a few more toys."
Tatts said its priority was to pay the rightful ticket holder their prize and Tatts promised to abide by any court order.
Tatts recommended all lottery players pay a small fee to register their entries to ensure "that winners do not miss out on their prizes".
Thanks to myturn for the tip.
If you are ever in a pool, make sure you get a copy of the tickets, before the draw. If you don't, your middle name will be SUCKER!!!.
Exactly!
This is the reason I don't like and never will , be in a lottery pool..
I'm riding solo on the upcoming jackpots. I feel bad for the people in this article. I hope they get ju$tice
They may have already got justice if the winner isn't their buddy or if he brought more tickets than they paid him to.
If one of my Personal Jackpot Tickets Wins and none of the Lottery Pool Jackpot Tickets Dosen't Win the members of the Lottery Pool are not entitled to any of my Winning!
We have a pool at work when the jackpot reaches $50 million or more. 25 - 40 people usually play.
Most of the time I buy the tickets, but sometimes others do. We have a written contract, and we email pictures of the tickets (all Quick Picks) to the distribution list well before the drawing.
It's the only fair way. Yeah, I have personal tickets I buy with my own numbers and such. But with a picture of the tickets mailed out to everyone before the drawing happens, no one can claim any of the tickets were switched. Over 40 people have the pictures! We email to anyone who even played once; that way they can cry if we win and they didn't play that drawing. ;)
I always play the lottery by myself ......... too many of these stories
More details would be nice. Did the person quit his job? Make huge purchases? Was the winning ticket purchased from their regular location? Etc, etc.
I agree, I don't join any pools. I only play by subscription and not as part of any syndicate.
I think you're pool is well run. I'm curious though, what happens when someone is not at work the day you're collecting money or maybe don't have cash on them? Do others chip in for them? If they do then this is a loophole a lawyer can fit an elephant through. A former player can easily say they are part of that group if you won because the culture of that group is to chip in for members who aren't around. It's crazy when money is involved
Yes, they are entitled to your Personal Jackpot Tickets, if you did not give them a copy of the pool's tickets, before the draw. How can you tell which is which? Always give every member, a copy of the tickets before the draw.
Tatts recommended all lottery players pay a small fee to register their entries to ensure "that winners do not miss out on their prizes".
Well of course!
Me Myself $ I
..and here l was thinking as Don King used to say "Only in America "..
Are these people nuts? Look, I'm really sorry if they were indeed scammed, but unless they had a contract saying anyone who wins a prize must split it with the group, how can they possibly expect to win their legal case? It's obvious no one has copies of the tickets he purchased for the group. If they did they would have gotten a cut. All he has to say is that the group tickets didn't win but his personal one did.
When it comes to a large amount of money, no one should be relying on the honor code of someone else.
I will say his statement needs to be made into an Alanis Morisette song, because that's ironic.
Here we go again...
Our Group is pretty much on Auto Pilot, players fees are collected once a month and tracked via Paypal.
Current players are all on contract and sent via Dist List. No open holes here, Iron Clad
Even when you play by yourself if you are a NICE guy family, friends, neighbors and co-workers expect you to share. Remember the guy who won and all his neighbors were expecting him to play their rent for the next few months and his girl friend was expecting him to split his winning with her instead of sharing with the mother of his kids who was on public assistance.
all the more reason I wish VA was an anonymous state
Don,t play the pools,I want to win by myself.
The Only Pool you going to find me in, is a swimming pool- and I don't mind being in it with others.
Has your pool won a jackpot or a significant prize making all that extra work worthwhile?
Pools that do that extra work don't usually have the problems of a member winning a jackpot on his/her own.
I had thought that was kind of his fault because he was actually saying that when he found he won. Then once he saw how many people were actually expecting it, is when he kind of backed down...
i learned more from this article than reading aussie news. you dont need to pay a fee to register online, you need a fee to have a player card to buy store bought tickets, and have them registered onto your account.
the fact the vic winner blabbed about having a pool of players and taking $20 off of ea. would suggest thats the ticket that won. I dont know why he would if he had won on his own ticket? maybe he's a moron. anyhow i hope justice is done.