Couple learns downside of lottery pools -- the hard way

Nov 28, 2005, 12:51 pm (20 comments)

UK National Lottery

A United Kingdom couple faces the prospect of losing their home after the High Court dismissed their claim for a slice of a £7.2 million (US$12.3 million) UK Lotto jackpot.

Tony and Kay Tomkins were handed an £86,000 (US$147,026) legal bill after claiming a fellow syndicate member struck lucky — but secretly kept their share of the payout.

After a seven-year wrangle, the court accepted evidence that pal Mark East's dad won the cash and gave him a £1 million slice.

A judge struck out the Tomkins' claim and ordered them to pay the legal costs of Mr. East, 40, who was totally exonerated.

Now the pair, may have to sell their home to foot the bill.

Florist Kay, 54, and Tony, 59, played in a syndicate with Mr. East in Bermondsey, South East London.

They used random numbers and feared he had won without telling them after he bought a £250,000 house.

They asked Lotto operators Camelot to name the anonymous winner, but bosses said they needed a court order.

Kay said: "At times I'm suicidal. I blame Camelot. One of its officials advised us to take legal action."

Camelot denied this, stating through a spokesman, "Disputes are a matter for syndicate [lottery pool] members."

Sun and Lottery Post Staff

Comments

bellyache's avatarbellyache

Why would they blame Camelot? They choose to take legal action against East's dad for money that wasn't theirs to begin with.

fja's avatarfja

Why would they blame Camelot? They choose to take legal action against East's dad for money that wasn't theirs to begin with.

Its Human nature to blame someone else for your misfortunes.....

bellyache's avatarbellyache

True, but they should take the blame themselves. Of course, it's easier for them to blame others then admit they were wrong.

whitmansm2's avatarwhitmansm2

He probably actually won and created "evidence" to make it look like his dad won.  They'll never know.

DoubleDown

He probably actually won and created "evidence" to make it look like his dad won.  They'll never know.

I Agree!  That is what I thought too...Never underestimate what money can make people do.

rlevins

We have a pool at office of 8 of us who are close friends and we started playing lottery as a group around one year back. We take turns to buy tickets. I on my own also buy ticket for myself. We decided that the person who buys ticket will copy it or scan it and send/give to others either personally or through email. Sometimes we used to get copies before drawing and some time after, which bothered some of us. So we decided some rules for group.
1)Ticket copies must be distributed before the drawing and if someone fails to distribute it before drawing due to any reason whatsoever it would be treated as that the person did not buy ticket and he will get the ticket for next drawing without we contributing to it and then distribute the copies.
2)If by chance the person was not able to distribute ticket and if he/she wins in that drawing even from ticket bought for himself then it will be treated as group won.
We agreed to it and I sent email to all of us with these rules. After few weeks I was the first victim of rule number 1. I had bought the tickets and I had scanned it and before I could send it my hard disk crashed and it took me 1 day to get new hard disk, restore my data from backup and install the programs. Next day I told the group of what happened and said that I will follow the rules and get tickets for next drawing from my money and distribute it and I did that.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Some people think when they join a lottery pool, they not only share the fortunes of the pool but the fortunes of all its members.  I've read stories about lottery pools that won and are sued by one its members that didn't pay and other stories about lottery pools suing one of its member for a share of his winnings from tickets bought on his own or outside of the pool. 

This is one reason some people who buy lottery tickets for themselves won't have anything to do with a lottery pool.  Lottery pools could avoid such nonsense by establishing for all its members who is in their pool and the combinations played before each drawing.

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

True, but they should take the blame themselves. Of course, it's easier for them to blame others then admit they were wrong.

 

bellyache>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

GREAT>>>>>>>STAND????????????????????????????????????

Where DO we get off or stay on the trainnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!

Any comments from the egggggggggHEADDDDDDDDssssssssss

LOL

PSYKOMO 

RJOh's avatarRJOh

This article should be title "Couple learns downside of suing for money that they can't prove belongs to them".  Even if someone from Camelot advised them that their dispute was a legal matter, it was the responsibility of their lawyer to be up front about the downside before pursuing the case.

rundown99's avatarrundown99

This is why I ALWAYS play the lottery alone.

rlevins

not playing in group is ones choice and that is ok but anyone who is playing in a group there must be some sort of written document (email or signed paper) which should list the rules in a clear way. In this case I do not see any reason for not playing in a group.

bellyache's avatarbellyache

This is why I ALWAYS play the lottery alone.

That type of situation is one reason I don't play in groups. I like to pick my own numbers and I like to play by myself. I have no desire to play in pools or such.

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Just distribute copies of the tickets in a pool. The copies provide contract protection and end all argument. I feel for these people but you pay your money and you take your chances. If there is no proof, I don't think I would have risked sueing. That is a crap shoot even with proof.

Pick-4_Master

Lottery Pools in my opinion are a bad idea I always play the Lottery games alone too many unforseen problems arise from Lottery pools even when you try and do things right.

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