$500K prize divides 2 elderly sisters in Connecticut!!!

A passion for gambling shared by two once-inseparable octogenarian sisters has ended up dividing them, with the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that one can sue the other for a share of a winning $500,000 lottery ticket.

The court said 83-year-old Theresa Sokaitis, of Middletown, can try to enforce a written contract she signed with her 87-year-old sister, Rose Bakaysa, of Plainville, agreeing to split any gambling winnings.

Sokaitis says she is due a share of a $500,000 Powerball jackpot won by Bakaysa and their brother, Joseph F. Troy Sr., in 2005.

We had an accountant, we had a contract and we had a notary public," Sokaitis said. "We signed the contract together and we agreed to split anything. And when it came time, they didn't even tell me; I saw it in the paper."

A lower court dismissed the suit under a Connecticut law that makes gambling contracts illegal. But the high court, in a ruling that took effect Tuesday, said the sisters' agreement isn't covered by that law because it involves legal activities. It said the case could go to trial.

Sokaitis said they decided to put the agreement in writing in 1995 after she won more than $160,000 playing poker at Foxwoods and split it with Bakaysa.

"They actually sat down with typewriter and typed up this four-line agreement which says that 'we will share in any future winnings from lottery, cards, bingo' and actually had this agreement notarized," said Sokaitis' attorney, Sam Pollack.

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