They won lot of cash and Lotto problems

Many imagine striking it rich in Lotto and living without a care. But as the adage goes: money can’t buy happiness.

Amid the news of a once close Auckland family torn apart in a bitter Lotto dispute, we look at the heartbreak that hit some after experiencing champagne-popping glory.

Family divided

More than eight years ago Angeline Deep Narain took her brother Ajnesh Narain Chinappa and his wife Valashni Vandana Chinappa to court over a property the couple bought, with what Narain said were her winnings.

In 2009, Chinappa’s mother Kaniamma Winter checked a Lotto ticket with her daughter-in-law. When it was confirmed as a winner, Winter was so flustered she couldn’t recall her bank account number. So the money was put into the Chinappas’.

The couple went on to buy a property in South Auckland, but a nasty feud erupted over who was entitled to the winnings, and the property.

In 2021, the High Court found that the winning $250,000 Lotto ticket belonged to Angeline Narain, and she had a 50 per cent share of the house.

The Chinappas appealed. A recent Court of Appeal judgment found the Chinappas held a 20 per cent share of the house for Narain and she should be compensated for the years she wasn’t living in it.

Chinappa said he’d sell the house to meet the court-ordered payments.

Mates no more

In 2008, three mates, including an expat Kiwi from Hawke’s Bay, partied the night away and woke to find they had won more than $17 million on a quick draw Tattersalls Oz Lotto ticket.

But it all soured over how the winnings would be split and Eugene Te Pairi was embroiled in a court battle in Melbourne with the others.

The feud not only cost them their friendship, but also $2m in legal fees.

There were deals and arguments, negotiations taking place in a car and eventually a Supreme Court hearing. The trio settled two years later.

Supermarket millionaire

Even Trevor Cooper, from Te Kauwhata, hit speed bumps after his eye-watering $27m win 10 years ago.

The former supermarket employee, who scored the mega win in 2012, had to go into hiding after intense media interest.

And his newly won riches weren’t enough to protect him from the heartache to come after he fell in love and divorced his post-win love Sharie Marshall within three years.

His mother Shirley told the Herald on Sunday there was no prenuptial agreement. She said she knew the marriage wouldn’t last.