Lottery Winner Will Not Have to Share $1.3M Prize, Judge Says

A lucky lottery winner from Surrey, Canada, scored a CAD 2 million ($1.4 million) jackpot in August 2023. Everything was well for the man until four colleagues decided that they were owed a share.

Maan’s Coworkers Wanted a Piece of the Jackpot

In August 2023, Mandeep Singh Maan won a life-changing CAD 2 million BC/49 jackpot. At first, the man preferred not to share news about his win but when four of his coworkers at a freight company found out, they demanded a fifth of the prize.

The thing is, the five men were part of an unofficial lottery syndicate and had been regularly buying tickets together for a few years at the time. When the four colleagues saw the photo of Maan holding a CAD 2 million check, they allegedly felt cheated.

As a result, Balvinder Kaur Nagar, Binipal Singh Sanghera, Jeevan Pedan and Sukhjinder Singh Sidhu initiated a lawsuit against Maan, claiming that the winning ticket had been purchased for their lottery pool and demanding a share of the jackpot.

The Evidence Was Not Convincing

After examining all available evidence, however, Justice Liliane Bantourakis found holes in the plaintiffs’ claims.

First of all, Bantourakis understood that their lottery pool agreement was not something regular and frequent. Moreover, the lottery pool’s WhatsApp group showed that the group had collectively purchased only 16 lottery tickets for the past 14 months.

At the same time, Maan was a regular lottery player who often bought tickets for himself. The court also understood that Maan was spending some CAD 400 on tickets every month.

In addition to that, BC Lottery records showed that the winning ticket had been sold at a gas station. The WhatsApp group showed no indication that the CAD 12 ticket was part of a group purchase.

Maan Got to Keep the Money

One of the plaintiffs has insisted that they had given Maan money to buy the ticket. However, this story was likewise unreliable and, according to Bantourakis, riddled with holes.

Bantourakis also pointed out that Maan’s behavior did not indicate a guilty conscience any more than it did indicate concern over how his coworkers would react.

On Monday, Bantourakis ruled that the plaintiffs did not have legal entitlement to the money and allowed Maan to keep his prize, much to his relief.

Maan told The Vancouver Sun that he doesn’t plan to change jobs despite his coworkers’ lawsuit because that would make him feel like a loser or liar.

Elsewhere, Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas delivered several big prizes to its visitors.