News writer
Winning the lottery is supposed to be a moment of pure joy, but for a Canadian trucker, his $2 million BC/49 jackpot win turned into a legal battle with his coworkers. The four colleagues, who had regularly pooled money to buy lottery tickets, became suspicious when the trucker failed to tell them about his August 2022 windfall, which they only discovered through an official lottery announcement.
Convinced the ticket was purchased with group funds, they took the matter to court, alleging they were owed a share of the winnings. What followed was a courtroom showdown over the rules — or lack thereof — of their informal lottery pool, as the trucker maintained the ticket was bought with his own money, and a judge ultimately sided with him.
The big lottery win
Five workmates at a freight and warehousing company used to regularly buy lottery tickets together in 2021 and 2022. In August 2022, Mandeep Singh Maan, one of those workmates, came into a windfall when he won $2 million playing the BC/49 lottery game.
While Maan's coworkers congratulated him on the win, they “soon became suspicious” about the win, especially since he failed to tell them about the win and they only heard about his good fortune from the official B.C. Lottery announcement, according to the judgment in the lawsuit obtained by the Vancouver Sun.
Lawsuit filed
Two weeks after the coworkers found out about the lottery win, they filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court. In the lawsuit, Balvinder Kaur Nagar, Sukhjinder Singh Sidhu, Binipal Singh Sanghera, and Jeevan Pedan asked the court to rule that as members of the office lottery pool with Maan, they were all entitled to a fifth of the winnings.
The five coworkers told the court that they would pool their money together to buy lottery tickets in 2021 and 2022. The person who bought the tickets always changed, but it was often Maan or Sidhu.
However, the group did disagree on how often they bought tickets as a group, whether the pool was always made up of the same five people, which tickets they bought, or if photos of the tickets purchased were sent to every buyer. The group had no formal agreement or purchase records, the judge said.
A prolific lottery player
For his side of things, Maan told the court that he was a prolific lottery player on his own. He claimed he would spend about $400 a month on tickets.
On August 5, 2022, a picture circulated of the group's latest ticket purchases. Ten days later, Maan bought a lottery ticket using his debit card from a Longley Chevron gas station for the August 17, 2022, BC/49 draw.
Was this ticket purchased by Maan part of the lottery pool purchases or made on his own? That is what a judge had to decide.
Judge rules for Maan
Justice Y. Liliane Bantourakis ruled in favor of Maan, stating the evidence presented during the pre-trial hearings and at trial was unreliable. She stated that Maan didn't receive any group money or tickets on August 12, 2022, and he did not use any group money or tickets when he bought the winning ticket on August 15, 2022.
While the plaintiffs stated they did play the lottery regularly together and that Maan's post-win behavior was suspicious, Bantourakis, the plaintiffs, didn't establish any legal entitlement to a share of the winnings.
Maan told the Vancouver Sun that he was “so relieved right now” after the verdict came in. He said neither the win in the lottery nor in the court changed his relationship with the other four, as they were never friends but just worked for the same company. He said he still works for the same company because he “didn't want to run away like a loser or a liar.”
For those entering into lottery pools, experts advise you to keep good records and have written rules for the group, including the members of the lottery pool and what happens when a person fails to contribute money for a draw. They should also make sure to share photos or copies of the tickets to all group members when tickets are bought for the group.
Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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