Posted on 03/07/2012 2:13:38 PM PST by SMGFan
ELIZABETH, N.J., March 7 (UPI) -- A New Jersey man claims his winning $77 million lottery ticket was purchased independently, and is not the ticket he bought for a pool of five co-workers.
In a civil lawsuit that began Tuesday in Elizabeth, N.J., plaintiffs are accusing Americo Lopes of fraud, and demand that he share his winnings with them.
Lopes was the organizer of a lottery pool at the construction company where he worked, and made regular purchases of betting tickets. On Nov. 10, 2009 he held a winning Mega Millions ticket, but did not inform his co-workers, instead telling his supervisor he required time off for foot surgery, the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger reported. In March 2010 he returned to inform his boss he'd won the lottery and would not return to work, court papers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
I’m sure you could find 5 people to testify to just about anything for $15 million each. They may well be telling the truth, but I don’t know how much weight the testimony of people with that much motivation to lie would carry in court.
I’ve always thought these pooled lottery ticket deals are idiotic. It’s almost like you have to beat the odds TWICE to win. First you need to beat the 10 million to 1 or more odds and win the lottery, then you need to beat similar odds that the guy holding the winning ticket will actually share the prize.
Just buy your own tickets, and if you win and are feeling generous towards your co-workers, give them some cash.
Yeah I wish I had this headache.
Hey Joey don’t forget to stir the sauce.(Joey may be wrong name)Goodfellas
Now go home and get your shinebox.
Dude’s thief but his “friends” don’t have much to stand on.
There have been several ‘pool’ lottery winners - with a great sense of friendship and good result.
It seems the pools are convenient - one employee collects the money and buys the tickets.
The best solution would be for the purchaser to get single tickets and each participant pick one to keep. Any sharing of winnings should be a separate agreement between the participants - or have all numbers issued on one ticket and sharing is a given.
Starts out as fun and ends in greed and anger.
I wouldn’t mind being on the losing end of some of that either:)
>> “His co-workers may suggest he consider a lead injection as an alternative.....after all; it’s Joisee.” <<
.
Calcium carbonate footware for swimming is traditional for jerks like him.
.
Lottery Pools. Each person in the pool needs to ask for a copy of the ticket after it is purchased.
77 million. Here is the breakdown.
After Federal and State taxes, the winner will have about 45 million.
Attorney’s fees to defend against the other 5? 1/3 or 15 million.
Accountant that will be hired to manage account. 10% or 3 million
27 million left. Everyone in the family with hands out. 10 million.
17 million left. Monmouth Racetrack 10 million. 7 million left
Coke, hookers, booze, parties and hangers on. The rest.
2013, he will be looking for work.
As I read the story, he was head of the pool and it's established a ticket or tickets were purchased for the date in question.
Absent some contemporaneous record he can produce listing the group's tickets, it's a question of fact for the jury regarding whether he's telling the truth about which tickets were the groups' ticket(s) and which was/were his.
The jury heard evidence damaging to his credibility - his lies about the foot surgery (sound like the unemployment scam was common in the industry). I also wouldn't be surprise if a jury thinks it's just to spread the wealth.
I used to be in a lottery pool at work. We all put our dollar in, and we received photocopies of the tickets purchased BEFORE the drawing.
If the coworkers didnt do that, then... there’s no proof and he wins.
The office lotteries I participated in, the person buying the tickets would always photocopy all the tickets purchased and pass them out to the participants.
If she had bought any on her own and won, I wouldn't have any problem with it.
I suppose it’s possible the ruling could go 75/25 where the guy sort of wins and the co-workers win..
Part of our slide as a nation began in about 1980 when governments began all this lottery business. It is something else that teaches people that work is not important, and oh boy I can hit the big time with just 1 more ticket purchase. Even when they do, it all disappears soon. John Ashcroft, Mo. governor, even succumbed and signed the bill allowing gambling in Missouri.
Irrelevant in this case, as there was already a pattern of 5 co-workers playing lotto pool together.
In fact, Lopes was the organizer of a lottery pool at the construction company.
Another glaring fact is, it's already been established Lopes is GD a liar.
Lopes will split voluntarily, or be forced to by a court to split, with the money held in an account until trial.
I agree.
Texas was one of the last ones to fall for it. Everyone mocked the “bible-thumpers” who didn’t want ‘state-sponsored gambling.’
Indeed, the people it taught the most to was the legislators who found a new cash cow they could milk.
These things are pretty trackable these days. I believe that caught a few scammers via security cameras.
These things are pretty trackable these days. I believe theyve caught a few scammers via security cameras.
Americo Lopes. Sounds Amish.
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