Sisters Take Bingo Win Battle to Court - 04-18-08

April 18 - For the most part, bingo is an entertaining game that brings family and friends together in a relaxing social environment. However, for three sisters in the United Kingdom, a recent bingo win turned sour and threatened family relationships after two sisters decided to take a third to court.

The story began after 59-year-old Edna Sexton won GBP 50,000 at the Buckingham Bingo Palace in Hunt's Corss, Liverpool. What should have been an exciting event turned into a right royal battle, after her two sisters, Linda Kenny, 53 and Doreen Thomas, 57, claimed that Sexton needed to split her winnings evenly between the three of them.

The two sisters claim that according to an oral agreement dating from 2005, the three agreed that any bingo win would be split. Sexton, however, counters that the agreement was amended in 2006 to show that any payout over GBP 1,000 did not need to be shared.

The three have played at bingo halls across the country at least fifty times in the past and two previous wins of GBP 1000 each were split fairly with no problem.

Issues about the 50,000 bingo win came to a head after Sexton changed her mind about sharing the win. "She was saying: There's no reason why I'd share with you but I will give you GBP 10,000 as a gift because you are my sister," recalled Linda Kenny.

After being unable to reach an agreement, Kenny and Thomas took the matter to court, claiming GBP 16,666 each plus interest.

"We always shared," said Kenny, "We have never disagreed before until this GBP 50,000 win. It was always done equally, none of us lost out. We always thought it was a binding agreement between three sisters. You trust each other as a sister. Until this win, we stuck together. I always hoped for a big win - now this is the outcome. We didn't ever think it would come to this because we did not think anyone would renege on it."

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