Last Saturday, a group of A&W employees in Mission, BC won a $14.6 million Lotto 649 jackpot. However, they have yet to receive the cheque.

The lucky winners are a group of 9 or 11, depending on who you listen to. After it became known that there were 9 lucky employees involved, two other employees came forward to claim a piece of the pie. They said they participated in a group purchase of tickets but were being unfairly excluded, although it is not clear why. Both parties have been interviewed by the Lottery Corporation and have until early next week to resolve the matter or it will be referred to the courts.

There is not enough information to draw a conclusion, however something is strange here. Did the group of nine buy some extra tickets in the others absence? Was the party of two delinquent in their contributions to the ticket purchase fund? Is this a personality clash in the workplace or are the two just sore losers trying to cash in.

It is my bet that when all is said and done, there will be 11 people sharing the prize. If there has been a tradition of group ticket purchasing, the court will likely overlook a missed contribution. The court would also be likely to rule that additional tickets purchased in some employee's absence belong to the entire group.

A nine way split is roughly $1.6 million each versus $1.3 million each for an 11 way split. A big difference if it is coming out of your pocket, but not so big given the circumstances and the fact it is like found money. The group of nine has to decide whether to include their two workmates and take less for themselves or go for it all and give a big chunk of those extra dollars to the lawyers.

Seems like an easy decision to me.

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