A New South Wales Supreme Court judge has resolved a contentious dispute between three senior tenants of a public housing apartment building in Sydney, Australia, regarding a $5 million lottery win.

The commotion started when Alan Way, a citizen, filed a lawsuit against Mark Peter Bowling, 76, and Mota Posa, 89, claiming they were co-defendants in a lottery syndicate. He said that when the syndicate made huge money, he was cut out of the money.

A significant falling out between the three of them occurred nearly a year before to Way's departure from the syndicate, according to the defendants.

Preparing the Books

Justice James Hmelnitsky concurred with the defendants on Friday, stating that Way had neither paid for the ticket nor been a part of the syndicate at the time of the victory.

Hmelnitsky further stated that at the time of the victory on August 22, 2020, the plaintiff had fabricated journal entries that claimed to show consistent monthly payments of $20 to the syndicate.

“I am persuaded to a relatively high level of certainty that those entries were not made contemporaneously,” Hmelnitsky told the court, as reported by Australia’s Daily Telegraph. “That being so, I am unable to accept Mr Way’s evidence that he contributed to the purchase of the winning ticket.”

The judge concluded that Way's departure from the syndicate in September 2021 was due to an altercation with Bowling. The court heard that Way and a buddy known in court records as "Young Barry" threw a wild, inebriated party at his apartment, which is why the argument started.

According to court records, neither Way nor Barry wore facemasks during the period when stringent social distancing measures were in place to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Even after their falling out, Bowling gave Way a $200K "gift." The latter didn't know at the time the entire amount of the prizes and found out later from another inhabitant. After a heated argument, Bowling and Posa decided to vacate the property. Way soon thereafter sued them.

Syndicates of Criminals

With lottery syndicates, players may share the risk and reward and boost their chances of winning while purchasing more tickets for the same amount of money they would normally spend on a single ticket. But things may get ugly very quickly when players get into a fight over a major win.

Victoria courier driver Gary Baron won $8 million in 2014 as part of an office lottery syndicate, but he chose not to share the news with any of his coworkers. Rather, he left his job and purchased a convertible BMW M4 and a posh house.

When the lottery business sent him a celebratory bottle of champagne to celebrate his windfall, his coworkers found out about the scam. However, they made use of the same courier service that Baron had previously worked for, and one of the syndicate's members brought the bottle to him.

Eventually, Baron had to make peace with his former coworkers.