Housos’ $5m lottery fight goes to court

Three residents of a Sydney housing commission block went to war over a $5 million lottery win which came days after an argument between two of them.

Alan Way claims he was cut out of a life-changing amount of money after the win.

Three unemployed elderly residents of a South West Sydney housing commission block went to war in the NSW Supreme Court over a $5 million lottery win.

Alan Way launched legal action after claiming two other residents at the NSW Social Housing apartment block in Elderslie cut him out of a life changing amount of money.

The other two residents, 76-year-old Mark Peter Bowling and 89-year-old Moya Posa claimed that Mr Way left the syndicate before the massive win occurred following an argument.

On Friday, Justice James Hmelnitsky ruled in favour of Mr Bowling and Ms Posa after finding that Mr Way was not a member of the syndicate at the time of the win in August 2022.

Mr Way produced diary entries as evidence to support his argument that he was contributing regular payments of $20 for the syndicate to purchase tickets at the time of the win.

Mr Day claimed to have been wrongly cut out of a $5 million win

But Justice Hmelnitsky told the court, “I am persuaded to a relatively high level of certainty that those entries were not made contemporaneously.”

“That being so, I am unable to accept Mr Way’s evidence that he contributed to the purchase of the winning ticket,” the judge told the court.

Justice Hmelnitsky ruled that Mr Day left the syndicate following a fight with Mr Bowling in September 2021.

The court heard the fight was sparked over Mr Day being drunk and loud in his apartment with a friend called “Young Barry”. Neither were wearing masks at a time when Covid social distancing measures were in force.

The court heard that on August 5, 2022, Mr Bowling purchased the ticket, which returned winnings of more than $5 million eight days later.

The court heard that Mr Way found out about the win later that month and did not know how much had been won.

On October 7, 2022, Mr Bowling transferred $200,000 to Mr Way, which he told the court was a “gift”.

The other two transferred their winnings to family members and in ways that would not see their social security payments impacted.

Mr Way was told about the extent of the winnings by another resident in the complex leading to a heated confrontation.

Mr Browling and Ms Posa moved out of the complex “abruptly” after the confrontation and Mr Way launched legal action, the court heard.