Aussie Seniors’ Feud Over $5M Lottery Payout Resolved in Court

Posted on: August 19, 2024, 04:48h. 

Last updated on: August 19, 2024, 10:24h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A bitter feud between three elderly residents of a public housing apartment block in Sydney, Australia over a $5 million lottery jackpot has been settled by a New South Wales Supreme Court judge.

Alan Way, Mark Bowling, Mota Posa, lottery syndicate
The Sydney senior’s lottery syndicate won a $5 million prize, but two members claimed plaintiff Alan Way had left the group long before they hit the big one. The New South Wales Supreme Court agreed. (Image: Shutterstock)

The furor began when one of the residents, Alan Way, sued his neighbors, Mark Peter Bowling, 76, and Mota Posa, 89, asserting he had been part of a lottery syndicate with the two defendants. He was cut out of the money when the syndicate hit big, he claimed.

The defendants argued Way had left the syndicate almost a year before the win and after the trio had a major falling out.

Cooking the Books

On Friday, Justice James Hmelnitsky agreed with the defendants that Way wasn’t a member of the syndicate at the time of the win, nor had he contributed financially to the purchase of the ticket.

Hmelnitsky also indicated that the plaintiff had falsified diary entries that purported to record regular expenditures of $20 per month into the syndicate at the time of the win on Aug. 22, 2020.

“I am persuaded to a relatively high level of certainty that those entries were not made contemporaneously,” Hmelnitsky told the court, as reported by Australia’s Daily Telegraph. “That being so, I am unable to accept Mr Way’s evidence that he contributed to the purchase of the winning ticket.”

The judge determined that Way left the syndicate in September 2021 after a fight with Bowling. The court heard the argument had erupted because Way held a drunken, raucous party in his apartment with a friend referred to in court documents as “Young Barry.”

Neither Way nor Barry wore facemasks at a time when strict social distancing measures were in force to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to court documents.

Despite the falling out, Bowling still transferred $200K to Way as a “gift.” At that time, the latter wasn’t aware of the full extent of the winnings and only learned of it later from another resident. This led to a heated exchange that caused Bowling and Posa to move out of the residence. Way sued them shortly afterward.

Criminal Syndicates

Lottery syndicates are a great way for players to increase their chances of winning while sharing risk and reward, allowing them to participate in more draws with more tickets for the same money they would typically spend on a single ticket. But when players fall out over a big win, things can quickly turn ugly.

In 2014, Gary Baron, a courier driver from Victoria, was part of an office lottery syndicate that hit it big for $8 million — except he decided not to tell any of his co-workers about it. Instead, he quit his job and bought a luxury home and a convertible BMW M4.

His colleagues discovered the deception when the lottery company sent him a congratulatory bottle of champagne to toast his winnings. But they used the very courier company Baron used to work for, and the bottle was delivered to him by a member of the syndicate.

Baron was eventually forced to settle with his former colleagues.