Incredible story about a woman who won £7.5 million on a lottery ticket she got at work

A woman who once won $10,000,000 (£7.5 million) experienced plenty of drama after winning the lottery, facing legal action and even firing a gun.

The Waffle House waitress was in the middle of her shift in Grand Bay, Alabama, when a man named Edward Seward sat down with her for breakfast and, unknowingly, was about to change her life forever.

Tonda Dickerson, a divorced woman in her late 20s, was waiting tables that day, March 7, 1999, and received a lottery ticket as a tip from Seward, something he always did as a regular at the restaurant.

The next drawing of the winners would not take place until the following Saturday, and then the American would experience something that most people can only dream of.

Dickerson won $10 million in the Florida Lottery with her ticket. Court documents in Mobile County show she agreed to pay out $375,000 (£285,000) over 30 years rather than taking the entire prize at once.

It was definitely a smart move, as Dickerson thought she would never have to work another day in her life – but unfortunately that was just a thought, as reality hit her with full force.

Friends and colleagues began to bombard her with litigation from all sides, while the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and even Seward tried to take her cases to court.

She is not the first lottery winner to discover that the status of a lucky multimillionaire brings more problems than advantages.

The biggest obstacle to her cash prize, however, was her colleagues, who, according to court documents, claimed that all winnings from lottery tickets entered by customers would be split equally.

However, Dickerson was convinced that it was hers because it was a tip to her. This later led to a case in Mobile County Court in 1999, where a jury found against the waitress in 45 minutes. She denied that she had agreed to split her winnings, as her lawyer said her co-workers were like “rats crawling out of every corner.”

Tonda Dickerson had to deal with lawsuits from her colleagues over the division of profits (YouTube/TheCrimeZone)

A regular couple at Waffle House said Dickerson told them about the arrangement, but ultimately refused a settlement that would have given her only a $3 million (£2.27 million) share of the jackpot and left court without comment.

The waitress then appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, which overturned the district court's ruling on February 18, 2000, ruling that state law did not allow an agreement to be imposed on the other waitresses because it was made “on the basis of gambling,” which is illegal in Alabama.

Seward later claimed there was an agreement that Dickerson would buy him a new truck if he won a ticket; the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in 2002.

But that same week, her ex-husband, whom she separated from in 1997, was shot while trying to kidnap her, the Press-Register reported.

Stacy Martin attacked Dickerson during a car ride in Mississippi. The sheriff said at the time: “The entire ride he told her he was going to kill her.”

“They drove down Highway 90 into Jackson County, where he took them to the boat ramp on Bayou Heron, a remote area.”

At first he wouldn't let her answer the phone when it rang and threatened to kill her. But he finally made her answer because he was afraid that people would start looking for her.

Dickerson shot her ex-husband as he attacked her (YouTube/TheCrimeZone)

Martin finally gave in, and Dickerson pulled a .22 caliber pistol from her purse and shot him in the chest as he charged at her.

After the shots were fired, he managed to take the gun from her and threatened to kill her and the others himself.

Nevertheless, Dickerson asked Martin to seek medical attention for his wound. Since the police were already at the hospital, they were called. Mississippi state criminal records show that he was neither charged nor convicted as a result.

As if that wasn't enough, the IRS also argued over how much Dickerson should actually pay her. In March 2012, lawyers from the Birmingham law firm Sirote & Permutt successfully argued in U.S. Tax Court that the IRS was wrong to demand about $1 million after income taxes after she had given most of her profits to her family through a company she founded.

The court ruled that because of the Waffle House waitresses' claims to the money, the lottery winnings were worth only a fraction of their value at the time the taxes were actually due.

So where is Dickerson now?

No one knows the answer for sure, but her social media accounts suggest that she is a poker dealer at the Golden Nugget Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.