On the Record

Siblings fighting over money is, unfortunately, not news. But a financial dispute between sisters in Connecticut is newsworthy for two reasons:

1. The money is from a winning Powerball ticket.
2. The sisters are in their 80s.

Theresa Sokaitis, 84, and Rose Bakaysa, 87, went to court Tuesday for the younger sister’s lawsuit seeking a part of a $500,000 jackpot the older sister won in 2005. The lawsuit is being heard after the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed another lower court’s decision to throw out the case.

Bakaysa and the sisters’ brother won the jackpot, but Sokaitis argues a written contract signed by both sisters to split their gambling winnings entitles her to a piece of the financial windfall. Bakaysa’s lawyer said the sisters had a falling-out a year before the jackpot, effectively tearing up the contract.

The saddest part of the story to me is the sisters haven’t spoken in years and shunned each other in court. Don’t they remember what the Beatles said about money?

A judge is expected to make his ruling by the end of May.

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I’m not sure whether Leo Wolpert’s summer internship at the ACLU of Nevada’s Las Vegas office is paid or unpaid, but it’s probably irrelevant now.

That’s because Wolpert, a University of Virginia Law School student, pocketed more than $650,000 this week by winning a World Series of Poker event. Wolpert survived an eight-hour final table in a no-limit hold’em heads-up tournament to get the cash and a coveted WSOP bracelet.

How did he celebrate his win? According to The Washington Post, Wolpert had a ”nice dinner with friends, watched some TV, fell asleep, and reported for work at the ACLU the next morning.”

Wolpert, a 26-year-old Fairfax native, played poker professionally for a while before using his earnings to pay for law school. He said he became fascinated with law after reading a blog entry about a Fourth Amendment case, according to the Post, and intends to return to law school in the fall.

But my favorite fact about Wolpert? He lost on “Jeopardy!” to the trivia buzzsaw that is Ken Jennings. I guess sometimes you have to know when to fold ‘em.

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OK, someone needs to explain this to me. After complaining to fellow Daily Recordian and all-knowing blogger Andy Rosen, I am still in a state of confusion — nothing new if you ask those who reside in our newsroom.

The Maryland Lottery announced it has achieved record sales for the 10th consecutive year, amounting to $1.577 billion. Now that’s all well and good for the lottery — and the state, which gets $494 million in returned revenue — but how does that not fall under the “evils of gambling” so often linked to those hellacious pieces of machinery known as slots?

On top of the Pick 3, Pick 4, Mega Millions and monitor-style lottery games like Keno, Keno Bonus and Racetrax, there are the bundles and bundles of scratch-offs that clutter every gas station sales counter. Yet, the thought of slot machines at a racetrack where people are already wagering their money is somehow blasphemy.

The latest battle between good and evil involves Rosecroft Raceway and Penn National Gaming Inc. Penn, a national casino operator, is in the midst of buying Rosecroft, a harness racing track. Penn National already runs several facilities that have slots, and odds are they would like to see the Prince George’s County track be the next.

On top of the “moral” roadblock Penn National will face, Rosecroft’s nearby neighbor may be an issue. Some developers seem to think if Rosecroft did end up with sinful slots, that the National Harbor would also have to have them. Now, what would a $2 billion, 300-acre, mixed-use waterfront development along a 1.25-mile panoramic stretch of the Potomac River in Prince George’s County want to do with slot machines?

Either way, I would wager that after all the debating and protesting, the state will still have a deficit. Not that I’m a betting man.

-FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

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