A man who won the lottery using syndicate numbers is being sued after he was accused of stealing the entire jackpot.
Trent Bowden is being sued by 10 of his friends after pocketing a cool £828,000 using lottery numbers the group regularly team up for, according to court papers.
The shooting range owner from Perth, Australia, got lucky with a Lotterywest ticket he claims to have bought independently of any syndicate agreement.
Rather than splitting his winnings with his pals who club together for a ticket each week, Trent believes he is entitled to keep the lot, The West Australian reports.
Lawyers are now fighting the case for the syndicate who argue it was mutually agreed among them that any lottery win would be shared.
Trent is said to have been on a roll before purchasing the bumper ticket, first with a $2,200 (£1,215) win on October 29, which he "reinvested" into the next draw.
Thanks to further success on the Oz Lotto on November 1, the writ says Trent then won another $2,802 (£1,550) and spent it on more tickets using the same numbers of 12, 6, 3, 18, 35 and 31.
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Facebook/Trent Bowden)On November 12, he hit the big time with a $1.5million (£828,000) but allegedly kept it a secret from his fellow syndicate members, who later uncovered the truth.
A writ on behalf of the syndicate was lodged in Western Australia’s Supreme Court this week, taking on both Trent and Lotterywest.
According to papers lodged in Western Australia’s Supreme Court, "On or about November 13, 2022, (Trent) presented the third ticket … for payment of the prize money to himself only."
The writ claims there was a “mutual assumption that any prize money won on a ticket (Trent) purchased on behalf of the syndicate would be shared by the members in the shares”.
The group's lawyer, Cally Hannah from Armstrong Legal said she is “obviously seeking a resolution that is of satisfaction to my 10 clients.”
Rather than cave in to the lawsuit, Trent has hired lawyer Kathleen McNally to defend the syndicate's claims.
A year ago, Trent was in hospital fighting stomach cancer for which he confirmed on his now-deleted Facebook page, that surgery was successful in removing a tumour.
He added: "Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. Looking forward to getting back to it after the recovery."
