EuroMillions Jackpot Split between Boss and His Waiter
Fatih Ozcan waited tables at the Kapadokya Turkish restaurant in York, but one thing always occupied his mind – the thought of winning a lottery so he could be financially stable for the rest of his life. He didn’t know that the very next day he would be the proud owner of a whopping £1 million – yeah, not everyone has that kind of luck… but then as we know nothing interesting is ever completely one-sided. The fortune came with a legal dispute created by his boss Hayati Kucukkoylu, who claimed that he deserved all of it. This dispute attracted legal proceedings as well as police involvement, but finally Judge Mark Gosnell declared that the EuroMillions jackpot prize money would be equally distributed between the boss and the waiter – they each get £500,000. Wait, what? Why would the boss claim the money? Hold your horses! I’m getting to that!
EuroMillions Jackpot – Why the Split?
Well, according to Judge Gosnell, on the night of 29th of January 2012, Fatih dreamt that he held multiple bundles of cash and standing in front of him was Hayati, his boss. Fatih, who is a strong believer of dreams, knew that one day he and his boss would hit a massive jackpot. Believing in his dreams, the Judge mentioned that Fatih badgered his boss for a couple of hours until he agreed to play the EuroMillions lottery. When Hayati agreed to play, Fatih went to a local convenience store and bought the winning EuroMillions jackpot ticket. As soon as the 47-year old boss heard the good news, he celebrated in his restaurant and claimed to be the sole winner of the EuroMillions jackpot. According to him, the money to buy the winning ticket came from the restaurant’s till, and that he alone had chosen the winning numbers. I can visualize Fatih’s expression when that happened…
But Fatih was adamant, because it was his dream, his idea, he pestered his boss to play, he bought the ticket and some of the number choices were his. To Fatih, his boss was totally unfair. He knew he had to do something before his boss licked the entire plate dry, and so he called Camelot as well as the cops, deceptively blaming his boss of pocketing his winning lottery ticket. Just three days after the glorious win, Hayati was arrested at his restaurant and held in police custody for a little less than 12 hours. Fatih, who later confessed that he had lied, stated that his boss had actually threatened him. This took the entire matter to the High Court where Hayati clearly refused to share his bounty with his waiter Fatih. Judge Gosnell had a tough time coming up with a fair decision, and who would – after all it was kind of a weird case.
Terming the hearing as a “troubling case” Judge Gosnell ruled that the EuroMillions jackpot of £1 million be equally split between Hayati and Fatih. In order to come up with that decision, the judge had to go through a series of angry texts between the boss and the waiter along with the CCTV footage of events in the restaurant while the celebrations were underway and the winning slips were filled in. Coincidentally the CCTV footage clearly showed that both Hayati and Fatih shared the task of choosing the EuroMillions jackpot winning numbers and they each paid their half of the £9 stake. The judge also mentioned that Fatih pestered his boss Hayati to play in the lottery because he had a dream, and that the win was only possible if they both played together.
Now Fatih, smarter than his boss could have imagined, gave Hayati the winning EuroMillions jackpot ticket, but kept the receipts and the payslips with himself. Judge Gosnell declared that as soon as Hayati was challenged by his waiter Fatih he fumed, threatened and swore at him to leave the winning ticket alone. Apart from Hayati, Fatih was persuaded by numerous mediators to drop his claim and leave Hayati take the entire fortune. Judge Gosnell reported that both Hayati and Fatih entered into a contract when they jointly bought the winning EuroMillions jackpot ticket and thus they were both winners, each getting their equal share of the £1 million.
About Jonathan White
Hi, my name is Johnathan and you can find me on Google+. I`m a freelance writer and one of the team of talented and faithful LotteryPros.com and LotteryCrunch.com contributors. Lottery is my hobby, inspiration and a favorite subject to write about. I do hope that my sincere posts will help you to become more rich and successful. Stay tuned!
