The British Columbia Lottery Corp. has given two groups of feuding fast-food workers another day to decide who deserves a share of a $14.5 million Lotto 6/49 jackpot.
"They've asked for more time," Jim Lightbody, the corporation's vice-president of gaming, said Monday. "We're not certain why."
Nine workers at an A&W fast-food restaurant in Mission, B.C., say they're the only rightful claimants to the prize from the Aug. 13 draw.
But four others have come forward to demand a share of the jackpot, saying they normally participated in the workplace lottery pool.
The Crown corporation initially gave the two groups until Monday to reach an agreement or it would pay the money into a court and let the rivals' lawyers fight over it.
"The group of nine original claimants, through their lawyer, have contacted our lawyer and said could they have some more time," said Lightbody.
"It's obviously a very serious amount of money," he said. "So we've said OK but at some point we're going to have to fish or cut bait."
Lightbody said there was no indication from the lawyer whether the group was negotiating with the four would-be claimants.
"They were just still discussing things with their clients was all they said," Lightbody said.
The nine established claimants to the jackpot contend the others did not pay into the pool that resulted in the winning number.
While there have been other disputed jackpots, Lightbody said this is the first time in the B.C. Lottery Corp.'s history that it might have to send the issue to court.
It would probably be best to get signatures on an agreement when you get the ticket so you'll know who's in and who's out. Or better yet, avoid these workplace deals and cash in the jackpot all by yourself.
Believing the court could side with the first two ladies if they participated in the pool in the past and was only delinquent in their dues had two other workers also suiting for a share of the jackpot according to a local news source. If that's true even more workers could be suiting and the only winners will be the lawyers. The trouble with having delinquent pool players is they never pay up after the drawing is over when there is no winning tickets, it's a win-win situation for them, they're in if they win and out if they lose. It may turn out to be cheaper for the original nine to share the jackpot with all their co-worker weather they paid or not.
This is one of the reason I really dislike Lottery Pools. People who never or rarely participate in the pool & don't chip in, come out of the wood-work claiming that they were part of the pool in the first place The people who are involved in pools need to always have some type of contract to avoid this mess. Me, I perfer to play only.
ah let it go to the lawyers. the people who were not playing faithfully will lose out in the end.
ah let it go to the lawyers. the people who were not playing faithfully will lose out in the end.
I ran a pool at a old job I had and to avoid this I had a sheet that everyone was playing signed. The sheet let all players know who was in and what numbers we had because some people wanted to pick their own numbers and some wanted to play QP. We played $5.00 on Powerball and $5.00 on Lotto for Wed. and Sat. draw for a total of $20.00. Everyone who was in the pool had a copy of this sheet too. With our pool we would only allow 10 people in it and for the most part we kept the same people playing. When someone wanted out I just got someone else to replace them so that way we kept the 10 people limit. After a while I got tired of people playing for a week or two so I quit. Nobody wanted to take on the job of getting people to replace the ones who dropped out so the lottery pool dissolved.
B.C. Lottery Corp stated the various legal counsels representing all the workers said they were unable to resolve their dispute so they will meet in court. The money will earn interest while the case is heard through the courts.
Co-workers Tanis McQuillan and Meagan Weisgerber came forward to say they had been part of the group's lottery pool because they had previously paid in -- although not for the time the winning ticket was bought, according to the nine who made the original claim. Two more co-workers over the weekend came forward with claims on the earnings after that.
"What a court is going to look at as a legal question is: What was the intention of these A&W employees when they entered that lottery pool?" Legal analyst Steven Skurka said, appearing on CTV's Canada AM. "For example, what happened in the past when one of the employees missed a payment and there was only losing tickets? Was that employee still expected to make their contribution? That's really going to be the crucial question here."
RJOh
So if I buy a lottery ticket on most weeks, but skip a week or two, and there is a winner the week I skipped, I can claim a share of the winnings because I used to buy tickets? I like that concept!
So if I buy a lottery ticket on most weeks, but skip a week or two, and there is a winner the week I skipped, I can claim a share of the winnings because I used to buy tickets? I like that concept!
Some people have expanded that concept to include those co-workers who think about joining the pool but can't come up with the money as expressed in the story of the car salesmen lottery pool that won $16M. https://www.lotterypost.com/news/117884.htm
When ever any one wins a big jackpot, everyone including their family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even the clerk that sold them the winning ticket wants a part of it.
RJOh
So if I buy a lottery ticket on most weeks, but skip a week or two, and there is a winner the week I skipped, I can claim a share of the winnings because I used to buy tickets? I like that concept!
Some people have expanded that concept to include those co-workers who think about joining the pool but can't come up with the money as expressed in the story of the car salesmen lottery pool that won $16M. https://www.lotterypost.com/news/117884.htm
When ever any one wins a big jackpot, everyone including their family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even the clerk that sold them the winning ticket wants a part of it.
RJOh
Thank God for the public school system! Our kids can't read, write, or add; but they know how to whine until everything that is good is theirs and everything that is bad is the fault of someone else.
This story gets more confusing as it develops. It seem that every day of the lottery drawings someone would collect money from the folks who were working that day that wanted to be in the pool to buy lottery tickets for that night's drawing, thus an A&W workers pool. The four women who are suing said they contributed faithfully on the days that they worked and thought the pool included them on the days they didn't work and couldn't contribute. The problem is there are other workers who could make the same claim if they are successful.
The court awarded the money to the original nine members of the pool since there was no proof that the other girls paid for any tickets. Now two of girls say they were asked to participate and intended to pay for their tickets later after the they were purchased when they had some money. Other employees testified that was never the policy before and they accepted that they did not pay this time and they were not in the pool this time. The story was at:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050923/BC_lottery_050923/20050923?hub=Canada
Another good reason to get to the lotto headquarts immediately and claim your money. The longer you wait, the greater the opportunity for something to go wrong, go wrong, go wong.