$40m Australian Powerball Dispute Reaches Supreme Court

 

$40M AUSTRALIAN POWERBALL DISPUTE REACHES SUPREME COURT

The case of a man from Sydney in Australia who claims he missed out on his share of a $40m Australian Powerball win has made it to the Supreme Court.Father-of-five Brendan King believes he is owed $2.7m after a syndicate of 15 southwest Sydney factory workers from the Prysmian group won the $40m Australian Powerball jackpot on May 5 of this year.Mr King believes he was unfairly left out of the Australian Powerball winning syndicate. His barrister Lachlan Gyles SC told the Supreme Court that his client was one of 12 people who purchased a ticket for the draw. Earlier this year a judge froze part of the $40m Australian Powerball win.Problems began when the syndicate organiser Robert Adams allegedly failed to contact Mr King to ask if he wanted to chip in extra for an extra $600 worth of tickets. The court heard that another member of the Australian Powerball syndicate had been informed.It’s the latest lottery dispute in Australia after problems broke out over a $16.6m Australian Powerball prize that a syndicate in Geelong had earlier this year. Two friends fell out as they rowed over a $2.5m Tatts Lotto win.In the USA two players ended up in court over a $1m Montana Millions win.The Australian Powerball jackpot winners say the winning tickets were purchased as part of a one-off syndicate. Mr Gyles told the court that a syndicate member was part of a purchase unless they had decided to opt out. He said it would hardly be 'unfair or unjust' if King was paid the money. “Your Honour has an opportunity to right a wrong that has occurred,” he said on Monday.The court also heard that the winning syndicate had two more members than usual and a member had to make an advance payment and have a copy of a ticket to be included. Mr Gyles claimed this had not previously been a requirement and Mr Adams actually owed his client $80 at the time of the win.Mr King said that he didn’t know about the additional Australian Powerball purchase until the morning after the jackpot had been won. He did get a win in that draw but only $12. The dispute has seriously affected Mr King and his family and he has had to take time off work due to stress.