A Manitoba woman who won the lottery last year says the ticket was a gift and the $5 million jackpot is rightfully hers—and hers alone.
Krystal McKay is being sued by her ex-boyfriend Lawrence Campbell over a Lotto 6/49 ticket purchased in January 2024.
According to a statement of claim filed on May 14, Campbell alleges he bought the ticket for himself and asked McKay to hold onto it because he recently lost his wallet.
A few days later, Campbell alleges he scanned the ticket’s bar code on his phone and discovered he won the jackpot prize.
However, Campbell claims he was told by a Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) agent he couldn’t claim the winnings because he didn’t have valid identification or an open bank account.
Instead, he alleges he was instructed to let McKay publicly claim the prize and hold onto the money until he got his affairs in order.
In a statement of defence filed in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench on June 27, McKay says Campbell gave her the ticket as a birthday present.
After checking the winning numbers online, McKay said the duo went to Shopper’s Drug Mart where she scanned and signed the ticket with Campbell recording the moment on a cellphone.
“The plaintiff stated in the video he recorded that ‘his girl won the lotto,’” the statement of defence alleges. “At no point did he state he won.”
Claims she ‘ghosted him’
McKay said they went to the Western Canada Lottery Corporation in the following days where she signed documents stating she was the sole owner of the ticket.
“The plaintiff was present with her and did not dispute this or suggest otherwise,” the court documents said.
McKay said there was never a discussion between the couple – or with the lottery corporation – that she was claiming the prize on his behalf.
Further, she alleges Campbell signed a release stating ‘he did not have any claim to, or interest in, the ticket or any prize resulting to the ticket holder.’
Campbell’s lawsuit claims she dumped him shortly after, but McKay said she asked to end their relationship in December 2023 – a month prior to the lottery win.
Campbell claims she “ghosted him” by cutting off contact and alleges she filed a protection order again him.
McKay denied both of those allegations in her statement.
None of the claims have been tested in court.
In an email, Campbell’s lawyer Chad Panting told CTV News Winnipeg that the defence filed by McKay is “logically contrarian, emotionally aggressive, and legally unsound at every turn. Let alone patently unreasonable.”
In June, a Manitoba judge issued an injunction prohibiting McKay from selling or transferring anything of value she’s purchased since the lottery win until the lawsuit is settled.
The Western Canada Lottery Corporation and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries were also named as defendants in the case.
The lawsuit alleges Campbell was given bad advice and wasn’t warned of the inherent risk of allowing his then-partner to claim the winnings.
Both corporations filed statements of defence in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench this week.
The corporations said they either deny the allegations or have no knowledge of them. The statements say they do not owe a duty of care to Campbell, and they ask that the claim be dismissed with costs.
