She Thought of Him 'Like a Son.' Then She Won a $900K Jackpot

It appeared to be a joyous photo op: a 57-year-old Nova Scotia woman and her 19-year-old nephew holding up a check for $1.2 million Canadian ($900,000) they'd won in a fundraising event that helped fire departments around Margaree Forks. But per the CBC, the presser Thursday went downhill soon after the shutter clicked as Barbara Reddick said she'd be taking Tyrone MacInnis to court for his half of the money. "Tyrone is getting nothing," says Reddick, per the Province, insisting the teen is lying that they'd agreed to split the prize, and that while his name had been alongside hers on the winning ticket, she'd added it there "for good luck because he's like a son to me." Reddick says she'd electronically transferred $100 to MacInnis so he could buy her tickets for the Chase the Ace jackpot, in which eligible participants have a chance to draw the ace of spades from a deck of cards for the big prize.

"I said, 'Well, put your name on the ticket and you'll be my good luck charm,'" she notes. Before the check ceremony, Reddick says she confronted MacInnis and asked him to admit they'd never agreed to split the winnings, but he wouldn't—so after they were presented with the giant symbolic check, a "visibly upset" Reddick started going off on her nephew in front of the cameras, per the Cape Breton Post. "I'll never speak to him, in this lifetime or the next," she says, per the Province. Commenters on the fundraiser's Facebook page don't seem sympathetic to Reddick, with many calling her "greedy." Meanwhile, a Dalhousie University law professor tells the CBC because of the amount of the prize, any legal claim would have to go through the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, could cost both sides "tens of thousands of dollars," and may take years to settle. (More lottery winner stories.)