An Arkansas waitress plans to take legal action against a co-worker for stealing her half of a $300,000 scratch-off lottery jackpot.
Leslie Underwood told KARK-TV that she and a co-worker, Mandy Vanhouten, were working at Sportsmans Drive-In when their boss, ironically named Lucky, gave them scratch-off Lottery tickets in lieu of holiday bonuses.
“He told us whatever we won, it would be split between us for our Christmas bonus,” she said.
Underwood said she and Vanhouten took the 5 tickets and began scratching. That’s when Vanhouten scratched a ticket and hit the $300,000 jackpot.
“We were both reading the back of it trying to find the little, ‘You’re pranked!'” Underwood said. “But no, it was a real one.”
Underwood said she and Vanhouten agreed not to redeem the winning ticket until 2018. But she was shocked to see her friend of 10 years on TV claiming the entire $300,000 prize for herself.
“I helped her get the job, put in a good word, stuck my neck out for her, let her stay with me so she didn’t have to drive back and forth. I think that’s what hurt me the most is as much as I’ve done, she could have done right for once,” Underwood told KARK. “Lucky told us here at the bar, ‘Y’all won’t be friends after this.’ We were like, ‘Why would you say that?’. Money changes people. Now we see.”
Underwood says she plans to file legal action against Vanhouten if she doesn’t get her $150,000.
“It was kind of like somebody died for somebody to tell you that they don’t think you deserve it and their decision has been made,” Underwood told KARK-TV.
