Furious battle over a $500,000 Powerball Lottery win

Two sisters from Connecticut are locked in a furious battle over a $500,000 Powerball Lottery win. The two women, who are in their 80’s, used to play slots together at casinos and buy lottery tickets together, with a contract even being drawn up which stated that any lottery winnings would be shared equally. However, the sisters fell out in 2004 and one sister tore up their contract thinking that would end the agreement but this proved to not be the case.

Rose Bakaysa and her younger sister Theresa Sokaitis are now facing each other head on in court in a dispute over the half a million dollar Powerball Lottery jackpot. The sisters, who used to spend most of their time together playing various casino and lottery games have since fallen out over a small loan. The two women draw up a contract in 1994 which stated that “We are partners in any winning we shall receive” but since drawing up the contract the sisters fell out over a $300 loan and Rose tore up her agreement.

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Rose then bought a Powerball Lottery ticket in 2005 which won her $500,000 but her sister Theresa claimed that half of the lottery winnings were rightfully hers and she approached the courts in an attempt to get a share of the Powerball prize. In 2006 a lower court ruled in favour of Powerball ticket holder Rose, stating that the sisters’ agreement was unenforceable under state law because it does not recognise gambling contracts but this decision was reversed on appeal in August of last year, ruling that the sisters’ agreement was valid. The case continues and the judge will give a ruling on this lottery saga later in the year.

Here at Online Lotto we hear of lottery syndicates and agreements being entered into regularly but one piece of advice worth noting is to always state how long the agreement is to last, as opposed to leaving it open ended. This way there shouldn’t be another lottery news story about a dispute over an agreement that should have ended.