Sister Loses Lottery Gambling Winnings Case In Connecticut
The Powerball lottery game has provided many happy days for gamblers throughout the US. One winning ticket, however, has failed to produce the joy that comes with winning a major lottery jackpot.
On Wednesday, New Britain Superior Court Judge Cynthia Swienton ended a bizarre case of two elderly women fighting over the rights to a $500,000 winning lottery ticket. Theresa Sokaitis brought the suit on her sister back in 2005.
Sokaitis claims that she had a written agreement that all lottery winnings between the two would be split evenly. When Rose Bakayas and the sisters' brother won the Powerball lottery back in 2005, Sokaitis came looking for her half of the $500,000.
Bakaysa told her sister that she would not be receiving any of the winnings, and claimed in court that the deal to split the winnings had ended in 2004 after a dispute occurred over a couple of hudred dollars. It is the defense Bakaysa has used throughout the case.
On Wednesday, Judge Swienton ruled in favor of Bakaysa. The judge indicated that she believed the agreement between the two sisters ended when there was a fallout over the couple of hundred of dollars. Bakaysa is now eighty-seven years old.
The Powerball lottery game is one of two multi-state lotteries being run in the US. The Mega Millions lottery game also is offered in several states, and the jackpots on both of these popular lottery games have grown into the hundreds of million dollar range on different occassions over the past few years.