Would You Share Your £1.2m Winnings With Your Friend?
The winner of the world’s biggest bingo win is sharing her £1.2m winnings with her friend who played alongside her but how many players would honour such a promise?
After Soraya Lowell’s win on Sunday 23rd March, she said “We always share whatever either of us wins and this time will be no different”.
Kevin Farmaner from South West law firm Foot Anstey said “Both the last two big Bingo winners agreed to share their million pound jackpots with their regular Bingo companions. So, is the habit of splitting the winnings, or discussions about “if we win the national” or “if we win the lottery” a legally binding agreement between friends and can it lead to expensive legal proceedings.
In October 2007 Tania Burnett, a young mum won over £100,000 at the Gala Bingo club in Plymouth on a girls night out. She went with two work friends who did not go to bingo regularly and there was no established pattern of behaviour between them regarding winnings.
When Burnett won the two friends claimed that they had all agreed to split any winnings over £10 equally between the three of them. Burnett disagreed and her two friends issued legal proceedings to try and recover what they claimed was their share of the winnings.
The case went all the way to the Court of Appeal with Burnett winning. The Judge said there had been no intention to create a legal agreement between the parties and it seems this was because discussions were vague and had not mentioned any particular game.
In another case in Scotland in October 2007 Jean McCullagh won over £1million in the national bingo draw, but afterwards her sister and two sister-in-laws claimed that they had all agreed to split the cash in equal shares. The winner claimed she agreed to give them a share of the £10,000 local jackpot, but there was no agreement for the £1million.
Kelvin Farmaner adds “You might argue that if there was an agreement to split winnings in every other game that night, although no agreement was made specifically in relation to the £1million, it was implied that all winnings would be pooled that evening.
“This case ended with the Scottish Court of Session ordering Mecca Bingo to withhold the payment to Jean McCullagh pending the outcome of any hearing.
“So when does a verbal agreement between friends, family or colleagues become a legally binding agreement? Both these two cases show that general talk between friends/family about sharing winnings is not always enough, but what if the three Plymouth girls played regularly and the winner always paid for dinner, or they split the winnings on some games but not others? It’s quite a grey area with no clear-cut answer.
“The person claiming the money must prove an agreement existed, and this can be difficult. But beware, promising financial reward to your fellow players, even in the heat of the moment, can prove to be a legally binding contract and you might lose substantially more than a share of your winnings once you add on the legal costs!”
For more information or advice, contact Kelvin Farmaner
Published 27/03/2008
