Boyfriend demanding half £1m lotto prize after breakup is 'entitled to his share', says shop worker who sold scratchcard
21 February 2024, 07:25
A man who is demanding half of a £1 million lotto payout after his partner left him is "entitled to his share", the woman who sold the pair the winning scratchcard has said.
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Michael Cartlidge and his ex-partner Charlotte Cox, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, are in a bitter dispute over who can lay claim to the payout.
Ms Cox, 37, has been named the rightful winner, as her name was on the back of the scratchcard. But Mr Cartlidge, 39, said that he had tried to send her money for the purchase.
They broke up three weeks after winning the money. The Nisa worker who sold them the scratchcard said they should share.
"I’m on no one’s side," she told the Sun. "I like them both. But I honestly believe that the money should be both of theirs.
“How can you live with yourself after robbing half a million? I know I couldn’t."
Mr Cartlidge tried to send Ms Cox the money for the two £5 Dice Towers games, the shop worker recalled.
"I joked, ‘You’ve not got the money!’," she said.
"But he was like, ‘Yeah I have. It’s this bloody signal in here’. Then he held the phone up to her and it was the spinning wheel."
Camelot initially said they should split the money, but new lottery owners Allwyn made a U-turn weeks later and ruled in Charlotte’s favour.
The incident took place when the couple bought a few £5 scratchcards from the Nisa one Friday evening a few months into their relationship.
Mr Cartlidge was seen on CCTV sending money to Ms Cox’s account to pay for them. However due to poor signal, the transfer didn’t go through until later on and Ms Cox paid for the cards herself.
Later that night they realised they had won £1m on one of the Dice Towers cards.
But weeks after the win Mr Cartlidge received a message from Ms Cox's friend saying he had to move out.
She told the paper: “I bought the ticket. He didn’t transfer me the money.
“It is all rubbish, I want nothing to do with it.”
Mr Cartlidge has said he will take legal action if he doesn’t get what he thinks is his share of the money. He believes he is entitled to half the prize.
On January 25, a Camelot official sent a message to the pair which read: “Hi both, it’s gone back to the legal team for the moment to decide what we need to draft for you to sign regarding the sharing of the prize if that is what you’ve both agreed.
“This should at least save you having to pay a solicitor. We’re nearly there for you.”
However, on February 10, new owner Allwyn sent Mr Cartlidge a message stating he was not an eligible winner.
An Allwyn official stated only the name written on the back of the ticket can claim the prize.
A spokesman said: “The National Lottery Rules for Scratchcard Games make clear that only one person can be the owner of a ticket and that only the person whose name and address is written on the back of a winning scratchcard can claim a prize.
"This means that a prize can only be paid to one person and this is always communicated clearly to prize claimants.
“Where a claimant agrees to share a prize with other parties (for example, players in a syndicate) after the prize has been paid, we always recommend that a legal agreement is drawn up between the interested parties.
“If there is no agreement in place, any dispute between the parties needs to be resolved between themselves.”
