Not-so-sweet old ladies in Powerball blood feud

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 posted 11:02 AM EDT

Cain and Abel have got nothing on these siblings.

A pair of gambling grannies dragged a 5-year-old blood feud over a $500,000 lotto jackpot into a Connecticut court yesterday -- with one of the octogenarians angling for her cut of the dough, and the other trying to shut her sister out.

The fierce fight stems from an agreement the women -- who took regular trips to Foxwoods Casino together -- made more than a decade ago to split their future winnings right down the middle.

When Theresa Sokaitis discovered that Rose Bakaysa stiffed her out of the lottery loot from the 2005 jackpot, she slapped her with a lawsuit seeking her share.

Bakaysa, 87, and Sokaitis, 84, used to be close -- trekking two to three times a week to play cards and the slots, and always split their winnings.

When Sokaitis scored $165,000 in a poker game in 1995, the sisters decided to formalize their pact, signing a notarized contract.

"This letters states that we are partners in any winning we shall receive to be shared equaly [sic] (such as slot machines, cards at Foxwoods Casino and lotterey [sic] tickets, etc.)," the misspelled document reads.

But over the years, Bakaysa said Sokaitis was slow to fork over her share -- doling out just $64,000 in small installments over nearly a decade. In 2004, the tiff reached a boiling point over $250 Sokaitis claimed she never received.

"She was shouting, 'I don't want to be your partner anymore!' " Bakaysa testified, sitting across the room from her sister. "I said all right, that was it, I tore up my contract."

A year later, Bakaysa and her 82-year-old brother, Joseph Troy, bought a Powerball ticket and hit it big.

The two split the winnings, but before long, Sokaitis heard about her sister's good fortune -- when her daughter received a $10,000 gift from her aunt.

"I told her I felt I deserved a share of the money and she told me I wasn't going to get a dime," Sokaitis testified.

"I said, 'I have a contract.' She said 'I tore mine up.' I said, 'I didn't.' "

Sokaitis, a registered Republican who lives in an assisted living facility in Middletown, and Bakaysa, a registered Democrat who lives in Plainville, haven't spoken to each other since.

But Sokaitis was convinced the contract was still valid, and sued her sister.

A ruling is expected by April 15.

While the two sisters didn't speak to each other yesterday, Sokaitis testified she was sad it had come to this.

"I love my sister. There was no reason not to be partners," she said.

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