Australian lottery winner accused of hiding win reaches deal with pool members

Jul 13, 2015, 9:20 am (21 comments)

International

A group of people who sued a Melbourne, Australia, co-worker after he allegedly failed to distribute the winnings of a AU$16.6 million (US$12.3 million) lottery pool ticket have reportedly struck a deal with him.

However that deal may not include an agreement to share the jackpot with the members of his lotto pool.

The Geelong man is accused of keeping the big win to himself, cheating the other members of the pool out of their share of the $16.6 million group draw last October.

A Current Affair reported on Thursday that a deal had been reached that had left some of the syndicate members "very happy".

But sources say that Mr. Baron has made no offer to hand over his millions and while a confidential pre-trial legal deal on procedural matters has been reached, the members of the syndicate are expected to issue Mr. Baron with a writ in the coming months.

Mr. Baron, 49, was one of the three parties to win a stake in a $50 million first-division Powerball draw last October.  [Editor: This is the Australian Powerball game, which is different than the multi-state Powerball game in the US.]

Since 2009, he had collected $20 each week from his co-workers at transport company Toll and purchased Powerball tickets on behalf of the pool via an online Tatts Group account.

A day after a $50 million prize was drawn on October 16 last year by three winners, Mr. Baron called in sick to work.

When asked if the syndicate had been successful in the draw, Mr. Baron told his co-workers they hadn't. He initially told one former colleague that he had received a significant inheritance.

But the pool became suspicious, when five days after the draw TattsLotto hired a Toll courier to deliver champagne to Mr. Baron's address. The Toll workers were aware that Tatts had a practice of sending a congratulatory bottle of champagne to major prize winners.

Mr. Baron then insisted that he had won with a separate ticket — not the tickets he purchased on behalf of the pool.

In a statement released by his lawyer, Mr. Baron claimed he purchased the winning ticket using $46.60 of his own money three days before spending more than $520 on 10 tickets on behalf of the syndicate.

"The syndicate [pool] games were completely unrelated to my personal favorites game which was the successful ticket," he said.

"I have never cheated my workmates and I am disappointed that the matter has become so public and that my name, family and home have become so widely publicized."

In May, the angry pool members launched Supreme Court action against Tatts Group.

That month, the Supreme Court ordered Tatts Group to hand over details of the ticket winner's identity and how he paid.

Since the massive windfall, Mr. Baron has purchased a $200,000 convertible BMW M4 and a double-story house in the Geelong suburb of Lara.

His son, in his early twenties, has also purchased a new home in Lara, where a luxury in-ground pool was recently installed.

Thanks to myturn for the tip.

Fairfax Media

Comments

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Nothing worse than a Greed Lottery Pool Leader that Steals Your Share of the Jackpot!

noise-gate

l guess this lottery pool does not subscribe to the idea of distributing copies of the purchased tickets to the rest of the members? 

Mrs. Lotto-nc

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jul 13, 2015

l guess this lottery pool does not subscribe to the idea of distributing copies of the purchased tickets to the rest of the members? 

I ran a lottery pool at work when the jackpots were high. If I played separate, I bought my tickets days before money was collected and I made copies of all the groups tickets and passed them out. If we won anything, we would agree to put back in the pool. We also kept a log of who paid and who didn't each draw

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Lotto-nc on Jul 13, 2015

I ran a lottery pool at work when the jackpots were high. If I played separate, I bought my tickets days before money was collected and I made copies of all the groups tickets and passed them out. If we won anything, we would agree to put back in the pool. We also kept a log of who paid and who didn't each draw

Everyone must take responsibility for their own mistakes,  and in this situation- their own stupidity. If you have been in a lottery pool for over 5 years,  are you telling me that you have no paperwork to show for how much is being collected & how many tickets were purchased?  They can't be all that dumb,  or can they?  If l am putting money into my savings/ investment accounts,  l don't want to hear " don't worry,  you don't need any documentation from our financial institutions telling you how much you have invested with us, just Trust us!

If this guy did hand out copies of the tickets,  all they have to do is check their copies against the winning ticket. If their batch comes up empty, just walk away.l am not going to pass judgement on this guy who says he bought his stash separately until all the facts come out. But for right now, the rest of the Pool are  all idiots if they did not get or request copies of tickets they paid for.

I guess the moral of this story is: Request copies of the tickets regardless of how long you have been in the pool, none of this " we have been friends since childhood,  l married your sister,  you married mine, we went to Cabo as teenagers"..  Just give me copies of my Freaking tickets..please!

Stack47

"Mr. Baron then insisted that he had won with a separate ticket — not the tickets he purchased on behalf of the pool."

If Baron can prove won he the jackpot on a ticket he purchased for himself, he should have told them when he found out he won instead of lying and telling them he inherited a large sum of money. Lottery records should indicate on which day and time the ticket was sold and if it was less than three days before, like he said, he has a huge legal problem.

"That month, the Supreme Court ordered Tatts Group to hand over details of the ticket winner's identity and how he paid."

It certainly looks like not all Australian lottery winners can remain anonymous. I'm still neutral on it, but stories like this one make me think maybe the people demanding anonymously want to able to hide the fact they won from somebody they owe money.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

My lottery pool has a very sound agreement ............... my wife and I agree that it is cheaper to keep her LOL!

Dance

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by Raven62 on Jul 13, 2015

Nothing worse than a Greed Lottery Pool Leader that Steals Your Share of the Jackpot!

The problem is that Baron may be the only person who actually knows if he stole shares that  belonged to the other members of the pool. The only thing you or anybody can know a a result of the story is that the members apparently weren't smart enough to have a pool with good documentation.

I'll cut some slack for people who spontaneously decide to cooperatively buy a ticket(s) with somebody else, but if you're in a pool that buys tickets regularly and can't prove that the winning ticket belongs to the  pool you've only got your own stupidity to blame.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Jul 13, 2015

"Mr. Baron then insisted that he had won with a separate ticket — not the tickets he purchased on behalf of the pool."

If Baron can prove won he the jackpot on a ticket he purchased for himself, he should have told them when he found out he won instead of lying and telling them he inherited a large sum of money. Lottery records should indicate on which day and time the ticket was sold and if it was less than three days before, like he said, he has a huge legal problem.

"That month, the Supreme Court ordered Tatts Group to hand over details of the ticket winner's identity and how he paid."

It certainly looks like not all Australian lottery winners can remain anonymous. I'm still neutral on it, but stories like this one make me think maybe the people demanding anonymously want to able to hide the fact they won from somebody they owe money.

Stack it's quite possible that one of the rules of this pool was " No buying tickets on the side"..If Baron " broke" that rule,  that does not qualify the rest of the Pool to suddenly have a claim to HIS winnings. The old rule applies " Silence is Golden. "

rgse90

This is all I am going to say. KARMA is a something that will come back top haunt him if h in fact really did screw his fellow workers of their share. I would not want to be in his shoes if he really did screw them. Anything can come back to give him what he deserves if he really did do what he is accused of. Life is too short to live it by screwing friends and co-workers out of their share of money. What a scum he is if this is true./

myturn's avatarmyturn

If you are in a pool at work and wish to play additional games in your own name, it is best to buy a yearly subscription. That way there is no doubt or suspicion. This guy may be above board, but I can understand why his work colleagues are looking into it. If he had nothing to hide, why did he call in sick? Having said that, if I won I wouldn't tell my work colleagues. Not because I had something to hide, but if it is a big win I wouldn't want to attention and some of them may go to the media drawing more attention.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

"In a statement released by his lawyer, Mr. Baron claimed he purchased the winning ticket using $46.60 of his own money three days before spending more than $520 on 10 tickets on behalf of the syndicate."

Wonder why his winning ticket only cost $46.60 and the 10 losing tickets for his syndicate cost $52.00 each.  Sounds like they price their lottery tickets the way Subway prices some of their sandwich specials - $3 for a 6" and $7 for a 12".  When ever I see those specials, I always order a 12" sandwich as two 6" sandwiches instead.

Mrs. Lotto-nc

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jul 13, 2015

Everyone must take responsibility for their own mistakes,  and in this situation- their own stupidity. If you have been in a lottery pool for over 5 years,  are you telling me that you have no paperwork to show for how much is being collected & how many tickets were purchased?  They can't be all that dumb,  or can they?  If l am putting money into my savings/ investment accounts,  l don't want to hear " don't worry,  you don't need any documentation from our financial institutions telling you how much you have invested with us, just Trust us!

If this guy did hand out copies of the tickets,  all they have to do is check their copies against the winning ticket. If their batch comes up empty, just walk away.l am not going to pass judgement on this guy who says he bought his stash separately until all the facts come out. But for right now, the rest of the Pool are  all idiots if they did not get or request copies of tickets they paid for.

I guess the moral of this story is: Request copies of the tickets regardless of how long you have been in the pool, none of this " we have been friends since childhood,  l married your sister,  you married mine, we went to Cabo as teenagers"..  Just give me copies of my Freaking tickets..please!

I totally agree

Mamma28z's avatarMamma28z

26 people gave up $20 a week and no one knows what they got?


How ridiculous...

I want to run that pool =)

dr65's avatardr65

I'll never understand why anyone would join a pool with so many stories of

treachery out there, who can you trust, agreement or not? There always seems

to be a way around being honest. Who would believe him especially since he called 

off sick the next day! That's funny! 

Good point about checking the winning ticket time stamp.

I don't think Mr. Swindler is too bright. It'll come back to bite him.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Jul 13, 2015

"In a statement released by his lawyer, Mr. Baron claimed he purchased the winning ticket using $46.60 of his own money three days before spending more than $520 on 10 tickets on behalf of the syndicate."

Wonder why his winning ticket only cost $46.60 and the 10 losing tickets for his syndicate cost $52.00 each.  Sounds like they price their lottery tickets the way Subway prices some of their sandwich specials - $3 for a 6" and $7 for a 12".  When ever I see those specials, I always order a 12" sandwich as two 6" sandwiches instead.

At $52 a ticket for purchasing 10 tickets, Baron got a better deal buying one ticket at $46.60. The article doesn't mention it, but it looks like Baron may have won his jackpot in another games.

noise-gate

If Baron's friendship with the pool was embers- its now Ashes.

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

If you don't get a copy of the tickets BEFORE the draw, you end up smelling just like another sucker.

noise-gate

Am l reading this right or is there just one attorney involved in this case so far: His. Where is their evidence that he screwed them over, or is it just " we always played together and if someone won regardless of the excuse" .....we share together? Either Baron has grown an extra pair including another spine in order to face the press & the wrath of his former pool buddies or his calling their bluff by saying " go ahead, try your case because l have all the evidence l need! I look forward to hearing the outcome of this case along with the one from the Bay area where this store owner says that his waiting for his  $ 350,000 because one of his customers promised him that amount. Should be interesting. 

sanman$

In January,1996 Sergio Martini, a NYC Dept of Sanitation worker won 10.3 million dollars in the Powerball lottery probably with someone else's ticket. He lived in Brewster, NY near Connecuticut & around 15 co-workers used to give him a dollar to buy them a powerball ticket. The only problem was that Martini would give the co-workers their powerball ticket three days after the drawing. And no one ever complained because they were all morons. And also one worker Eddie didn't get a ticket. After he won Martini spoke to a lawyer & he told Martini to give the tickets out a day or two before each drawing. martini worked for a year & a half to get a 15 year pension, kept looking for Marlboro miles & when his mother died he asked everyone for five bucks. You can't make this stuff up!

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

Quote: Originally posted by Mamma28z on Jul 13, 2015

26 people gave up $20 a week and no one knows what they got?


How ridiculous...

I want to run that pool =)

are you sure what if you won on your own ticket? they'd all want to sue you!

river26

just give  copies  case  closed

End of comments
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