Lottery Jackpot In Court Over $1
THE VILLAGES (CBS4) - A retirement community in central Florida has become the talk of the town after a group of friends who work at a golf course hit a $16 million jackpot and ended up in court over one dollar.
Eight employees at the Hacienda Hills Country Club in The Villages, Florida, are fighting over who exactly was in the weekly lottery pool.
A 72-year-old woman claims she helped launch the weekly lottery pool and was off from work the day the latest batch of numbers was purchased.
"She was one of the founding members of this group and for nine years has consistently participated in this pool of employees," said attorney Tom Culmo. "She was not physically there to put her dollar in and write her name on the envelope."
When the woman returned to work the next day, she took the ticket and checked the newspaper and realized the employee pool had hit the jackpot.
"She went to one of her co-workers all excited to announce it," Culmo said. "They went to get the envelope and her name was not on it."
But the left-out worker said she asked a co-worker to add her name to the list and pay for her ticket. Whether that actually happened is still in question, and the rest of the employees don't want to give up more of their share.
The money in question amounts to roughly $200,000 per winner and the woman has now hired Culmo to try and get her piece of the financial pie.
A judge issued a temporary order stopping the Florida Lottery from distributing any of the money until all of the controversy has been settled.
