Lottery Winnings Are Tearing This Nova Scotia Family Apart

The awkward lottery feud between between a Nova Scotia woman and her nephew has escalated after a judge froze the nephew’s half of a $1.2-million jackpot from a small town charity fundraiser, the National Post reports.

"I put his name on the ticket for good luck because he's like a son to me… He was," Barb Reddick said about the winning ticket in July after being presented with a cheque for half the $1.2-million winnings from a Chase the Ace drawing. Her nephew, Tyrone MacInnis, received the other half. "He was lucky, but not for half a million dollars,” she explained.

She later told the CBC, “he’s dead to me” and announced she was taking MacInnis, 19, to court.

Turns out Reddick followed through. She has sued her nephew in Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court.

MacInnis’s phone number was reportedly on the winning ticket as a means of contact, though both aunt and nephew’s names were written on it too. Reddick reportedly gave her nephew money to buy tickets for the Chase the Ace draw but claimed she hadn’t planned to split a jackpot with him—only to share a consolation prize.

MacInnis still thinks half the jackpot should be his, CTV News reports. He is a part-time Tim Hortons employee and a university student in his second year. Due to the likelihood that MacInnis wouldn’t be able to repay his half of the winnings if he were to lose the case, the judge made the decision to freeze his $611,319.50.

Reddick told reporters on Monday that she stands by her decision to file a lawsuit.

“It is for the principle: Don’t lie on me,” she said outside the courtroom. “He was my son, almost my son.”

When a reporter asked her if the relationship with her nephew could be repaired, she replied, shaking her head: “Never—I don’t think so.”

MacInnis and Reddick reportedly have a settlement conference scheduled with a judge for September 17.

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