Here are a few of the strangest situations lottery winners find themselves in!
14 - Larry Dawson vs The Multi-State Lottery Association
Larry Dawson won $9 million dollars back in 2011.
And most people would take the money and move on.
But Dawson had a piece of information that affected him.
He knew his win would have been nearly three times bigger if there hadn’t been cheating
involved with lottery officials!
Dawson won a Hot Lotto jackpot in 2011 and took the $6 million dollar lump sum before
taxes.
But years later, he learned that the game’s previous $16 and a half million dollar jackpot
had been rigged by Eddie Tipton, the lottery association’s information security director!
Yep, fraud can be in anything involving a lot of money!
So Dawson sued in 2016 saying that the $16 and a half million should have carried over
to be added to the prize he won under Hot Lotto’s rules.
His lawsuit said that he should have been due an additional $10 million dollars.
That’s the size of the lump sum plus interest!
So how did Tipton do it?
He secretly installed code in software used by lotteries that allowed him to predict winning
number combinations on certain days of the year.
For years, he worked with his brother and other people he brought in on the scam to
purchase winning tickets and claim prizes around the country!
Tipton’s downfall began after he bought a winning ticket for the $16.5 million Hot
Lotto jackpot in December of 2010.
Stunned coworkers identified him as the buyer after investigators released surveillance
footage of the purchase years later!
Even though Tipton had bought it, he wasn’t dumb enough to try to claim it.
He passed the ticket to someone else to claim.
But the Iowa Lottery refused to pay out after lawyers for a trust declined to reveal who
bought the ticket!
Tipton ended up getting sentenced to 25 years in prison.
As for Dawson?
He didn’t get the full 10 million.
But he DID settle for an additional one and a half!
13 - Christina Shaw Vs All Her Coworkers Christina Shaw bought a lucky lottery ticket
and won the mega-money bonanza worth 9.5 million dollars back in 2013!
The only problem is, her coworkers said that it was theirs too!
But how?
Yep, that’s right, they were all in a lottery pool together.
Shaw had bought extra tickets for herself along with the tickets for the office pool.
But how would they be able to determine which tickets were for the office pool and which
were her own?
Her coworkers claimed that each of them routinely pooled money to buy lottery tickets and they
took turns buying tickets.
Shaw happened to buy the group's tickets that week.
This is why the group had made the rule that anyone buying tickets for the pool couldn’t
buy tickets at the same location at the same time.
The problem was that the rule was unwritten!
One easy way to get out of this jam is just to always take a picture of the tickets that’s
for the group and send it to everyone before the drawing.
That way there’s no confusion!
Of course, Shaw said that the ticket was her personal ticket, and she didn’t know about
that unwritten rule.
She said the numbers she picked were based on the birthdays and ages of her children
and grandchildren, while the group’s numbers were always computer picked.
But she still settled with the group anyways for an undisclosed amount.
The lesson here is to make sure to have zero loopholes and have things absolutely clear
when it comes to pooled lottery tickets!
12 - Tony Cua-toc Vs Erick Cervantes Tony Cua-Toc played the lottery as an undocumented
immigrant and won $750 grand before taxes!
You can see the dilemma on his hands right?
So what does a desperate man do in a situation like this?
Cua-Toc knew he would get deported back to Guatemala if the lottery administrators knew
of his undocumented status.
So he called up his friend and boss Erick Cervantes to help cash the prize for him.
As a supposedly good friend, his boss went in to claim the winnings on Cua-Toc’s behalf.
But when he cashed it, he decided to keep the money!
Things escalated when his friend even started saying that Cua-Toc had DECIDED to give him
the money.
Fortunately, surveillance footage showed that it was in fact Cua-Toc who had purchased the
ticket.
The video also showed him hugging and kissing his girlfriend.
He also had proof that he sent photos of the winning ticket to his friends from his phone!
He eventually won his case, but not after his boss had already spent roughly 223 thousand
dollars!
And even worse?
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold was placed against Cua-Toc after the
case!
11 - Barb Redick vs Tyrone MacInnis Barb Redick and her nephew Tyrone MacInnis
both decided to play a game called Chase the Ace, a lottery similar to a 50-50 draw.
Instead of half the winnings going to the winner, the winner only gets 20 percent of
the lottery pool.
However, they get a chance to pull an ace of spades from a deck of cards.
That’s because if the winner is lucky enough to pull the ace, they also win a jackpot made
up of the remaining 30 percent of the ticket sales from ALL the previous lotteries!
And this is exactly what Barb ended up doing, winning the draw AND pulling the Ace of Spades!
But the problem for her was, she also had her nephew sign her ticket.
Why?
Because it was for “good luck”.
She claimed that she had planned to share some of the prize, but never half of it.
The funniest thing was, all of this happened while they were publicly receiving the lottery
check.
Right after they both received the check, she said she was taking her nephew to court!
She even went on a rant about how he didn’t deserve the money and how she USED to consider
him like a son!
They eventually settled and made up, with her nephew ending up with a little more than
double the 150 grand she had supposedly promised earlier.
10 - Lynn Poirier vs Howard Browning Imagine breaking up with your significant
other.
And years later, you win the lottery.
But your ex hunts you down to look for his or her share!
This is what happened to Lynn Poirier.
She and her ex-boyfriend Howard Browning had lived together for two years.
During their time together, she told him that if she won the lottery, they would split the
prize.
Little did she know she would have to hold that promise…...a lonnnng time later!
Spoiler alert - Poirier actually did win the lottery for a million bucks!
This is when she realized everything might get messy.
8 years after their breakup, Browning decided to pursue legal action and sued her for half
the prize money!
Not only did he file the suit, he actually won!
According to Florida law, a verbal agreement like this example is completely valid, provided
that it was made when they were still a couple.
Unfortunately, for Poirier, she had to file for bankruptcy after losing in court.
She had already invested her winnings buying some buildings and businesses that didn’t
end up going well for her.
Maybe not telling anyone she won a lottery might have helped?
9 - Gloria MacKenzie vs Scott Mackenzie Gloria Mackenzie was 84 when she won a huge
Powerball jackpot worth $590 million dollars.
So what did she do afterwards?
She sued her son.
Why?!
Gloria took the lump sum of roughly $371 million dollars after taxes back in 2013.
But she HAD to split the earnings with her son, Scott.
This may have already been ONE point of contention.
The reason he got half was because he was the person who had helped her buy the winning
ticket.
Her son getting the money ISN’T why she sued though.
It’s because of what she wanted for an ROI on her money!
She gave her son Scott control of her money.
So Scott then turned to Harry Madden, a financial advisor who’s a money manager in Florida
and also a co-host of a radio show called "Smart Money".
Madden generated a return of less than ONE percent on her money in 3 and a half years!
And he charged her more than TWO million dollars in fees!
Madden claimed that she wanted super conservative investments, and that’s why her returns
were so low.
But c’mon, one percent in return?!
What was he putting that money in?!
8 - Joao DaPonte vs Susana Gaspar Joao DaPonte was actually horrified when he
realized the $4,000 dollar scratch off ticket he thought he had won was actually a $4 million
dollar win!
Why?
It’s because he realized he was cheated out of a lot of money!
DaPonte was at a cafe when one of his friends told him that someone had won 4 million dollars
from a winning $10 dollar “Gold Rush” scratch off ticket.
DaPonte’s first reaction was surprise.
Someone else had won right after he hit his $4,000 dollar winner! AND It was won on the
same type of scratch off ticket!
What’s even weirder was that they both had bought their tickets from the same place!
He showed his friend a photo of his winning ticket on his phone.
His friend looked at the photo and told him the prize was actually for $4 million dollars,
and NOT the $4,000 he had thought he had won!
And that was the moment when DaPonte knew he was scammed.
The reason DaPonte thought he only won four thousand dollars was that DaPonte can’t
speak or read English.
That’s because of the word “mil” on the winning Lottery ticket.
That translates to “thousand” in DaPonte’s native language of Portuguese.
DaPonte claims he asked Maria Oliveira to cash the ticket for him.
He knew she had done the same for other people in the past in return for a small percentage
of the winnings.
According to DaPonte’s lawsuit, Oliveira took the ticket to her boss Susana Gaspar,
and they worked out a scheme to scam DaPonte.
Oliveira gave DaPonte $3,800 dollars in cash, and he gave her $200 dollars for her help.
As soon as he found out he was duped, he sued!
Currently the lump sum that’s just over 1.6 million dollars sits in an interest bearing
account while the case is still being sorted out!
7 - Sharon Jones vs Everyone
A losing lottery ticket that became a winner?
That’s kinda the story.
Sharon Jones won the lottery with a ticket that was supposedly thrown away after someone
else had declared it a losing ticket!
In 2011, Sharon Jones checked losing tickets she found at a convenience store just to make
sure they actually were losers.
And that’s when she found a winning million dollar ticket!
But the store’s manager, Lisa Petriches, sued Sharon the next month.
Lisa argued that she was the rightful owner because the ticket had come out of a receptacle
in the store for losing tickets.
And it was labeled “Do Not Take.”
Lisa said that any of the tickets put in there belonged to her under an agreement with the
store’s owners.
Deciding who was entitled to this million dollar ticket took about 15 months to resolve!
Sharon wasn’t allowed to spend the money by court order until a judgment could be reached!
The first trial ended after Judge Thomas Hughes said neither Sharon or Lisa might have a claim
on the ticket.
That’s because this story gets even better!
During the trial, a third woman came forward!
Sharon Duncan was the actual buyer of the winning ticket.
She said she had thrown the ticket away after she thought that she didn’t win anything.
At a second trial, the judge ruled that the original buyer, Sharon Duncan, was entitled
to the winnings.
But three weeks later, the judge canceled his verdict without explanation!
He ordered a new trial and removed himself as the judge!
The case was assigned to another judge.
Before the third trial could begin, the store’s owner, Luay Dajani put his claim in on some
of the winnings!
Somehow, they eventually all agreed to a confidential settlement in November 2012!
6 - Eva Reyes vs Laxmi Bhardwaj Eva Reyes is a lottery player from northern
California.
She had promised the owner of the liquor store where she bought her lottery ticket, Laxmi
Bhardwaj, that she would split her prize with him if she won.
Just why would she make this promise?
Sometimes these promises are made just because it’s one of those things you say as a joke.
But he obviously didn’t think this situation was this way!
And it totally makes sense why he didn’t.
It’s because the liquor store owner actually lent her the money to buy the tickets!
When she won the $1 million dollar prize with the ticket she bought with HIS money, Laxmi
went on to sue her when she wouldn’t pay up!
Reyes stated that she DID promise him a part of her winnings, as a thank you for his help.
The story gets even weirder.
There actually was a note written!
According to her attorney, the note clearly states that she would give him only $50,000.
However, the note supposedly has an extra zero that was squeezed in.
We’re gonna guess the store owner kept the note!
We still couldn’t find any credible sources on who won the dispute.
Do you know what happened?
5 - Donna Campbell vs Arnim Ramdass Picture this: you're married to your wife
or husband.
Everything seems to be fine.
But then you find out he or she hid $600,000 dollars from you!
What would you do?!
It turns out this was exactly what happened to Donna Campbell of Florida.
She found out her husband was hiding his lottery win from a lottery pool he had with his coworkers.
The worst part, or the funniest part, was the length he went to keep the secret!
He went as far as never having the TV on and disconnecting their phone!
Her suspicions went up further when she got a postcard about a new home purchase addressed
to her husband.
She eventually did a simple Google search and found out the news of her husband’s
lottery win.
When she finally confronted him, his first reaction was to deny everything.
But he then confessed but came up with the excuse that he had actually bought the ticket
for his daughter from another marriage.
And then, poof, he just disappeared!
And that’s when she decided to sue for her half.
However, a judge somehow rejected her demand for half the money!
4 - Jane Doe vs New Hampshire Keeping anonymous is the key for no headaches
after winning a lottery.
This is exactly what went through the mind of one lady who won in New Hampshire.
After winning the Powerball prize of $559 million, she decided to fight in court to
make her identity remain private, something that took a long legal battle.
The problem was that she did something that would have legally prevented her from keeping
it private.
In New Hampshire, if you sign the back of your lottery ticket, you legally expose your
name for lottery officials to use.
This is a practice that many people do to make sure they’ll remain as the winner regardless
if their ticket gets stolen.
Because she had signed the back of her ticket, she was liable to have her identity exposed.
In fact, when she received the $264 million prize after all taxes, there still was no
way of knowing whether or not she would be able to remain as “Jane Doe”.
In the middle of her legal battle, she realized that her state law allowed her to create a
trust and receive the money through a trustee.
Ultimately, she was successful, but it hasn’t always been the case for other winners.
If you’re lucky enough to win the lottery and are worried about losing your ticket,
don’t forget about your identity as well!
3 - Mandy Vanhouten vs Leslie Underwood The bond between Mandy and Leslie were supposedly
so strong, they told each other that they would split the prize money if they ever won
the lottery.
According to Leslie Underwood their boss handed them some lottery tickets as a Christmas bonus.
She and Mandy had promised each other that they would split the money if either of them
won from their tickets.
Of course, THAT didn’t happen!
As soon as her coworker Mandy won, she just disappeared.
She just left and never went back to the office.
Leslie saw that Mandy cashed her prize in the news and tried calling her, but of course,
she never returned her texts or calls.
Leslie decided to file a lawsuit against her friend.
But the case eventually was dropped after she got an undisclosed amount of money!
2 - Etta May Urquhart vs Ronnie Lee Orender There are plenty of stories involving family
members battling over the millions of dollars a lottery ticket brings in.
On this occasion, one mom had to deal with her son stealing her prize money!
Etta May Urquhart won 51 million dollars in the Mega Millions lottery in California.
She asked her son, Ronnie to double-check that the numbers matched up because she couldn’t
believe it.
Once she realized she had won, she drove to the gas station where she had bought the ticket.
However, she had her son sign the lottery ticket instead because she was so excited
and couldn’t hold a pen.
Now THAT was a bad move because her son had other ideas.
Because he signed the ticket, HE was the winner.
Who would ever do this to their own mom?
This guy!
The case eventually went to court, where a settlement was eventually reached, with the
details undisclosed.
1 - Marie Holmes vs Kevin Matthews Marie Holmes won a $188 million lottery prize
and immediately found weird situations happening around her, such as having to pay 200 grand
in fees to bail her boyfriend out of jail many times!
That was just the tip of the iceberg!
She received an official lawsuit from someone she never expected.
The pastor of her local church.
Pastor Kevin Matthews claimed that Marie had promised to make a big donation once she received
her lottery money.
But he was surprised to not get any money from her
He also said that he was under intense stress that led him to start taking anxiety medication
and antidepressants.
Apparently, Matthews had made verbal agreements with realtors to use the $1.5 million dollars
Holmes had allegedly promised to buy a piece of land and build a retreat for the church.
Here’s what happened.
Holmes had in fact donated $700,000 thousand dollars, but it wasn’t enough for him!
Matthews decided to sue her for 10 million dollars anyways for what he called undue stress!
Does this guy sound like a pastor anyone would want?!
Do you know the resolution to this case?
Here's what's next!