$1-Million Jackpot Ends Prized Friendship

As lights flashed, whistles blew and a crowd gathered, Muffavak Atamer searched for air.

The 73-year-old retiree says he had just hit the largest slot-machine jackpot ever on a Carnival cruise ship--$1.1 million--after his pal, Frank Sevakis, lent him three $1 coins.

Overwhelmed to the point of nausea, Atamer says he walked away, fearing that he would have a heart attack. And then, he says, his 79-year-old buddy slipped into the chair in front of the winning machine and claimed the jackpot as his own.

Now there are no more plans for Atamer and his wife to visit the Sevakis’ summer home in Michigan. The couples no longer share weekly dinners in each other’s homes. And after living one floor apart for six years in a posh oceanfront condominium complex, the Sevakises and Atamers don’t even talk when they see each other.

And see each other they will.

Atamer is suing Sevakis to reclaim what he says is his jackpot. Sevakis has filed his own lawsuit against Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines, demanding that the company pay up--to him, to the tune of $56,000 a year for 20 years. The jackpot is being held in a court account until the dispute is settled.

“It seems to me very illogical that someone would walk away from a million dollars,” said Sevakis’ attorney, Phil Vitello. “It just stretches my credibility that someone would do that.”

The Atamers are not much for wagering, but they had enjoyed several vacations to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, N.J., and Biloxi, Miss., with Frank and Elsie Sevakis, who are avid gamblers.

On March 18, the third day of the four-day Fantasy voyage from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas, Atamer lost all his quarters playing slots. Sevakis, who’d been feeding three machines at a time, invited Atamer to join him and gave his friend three $1 coins.

That’s where the conflict begins.

Sevakis, the former owner of a machine manufacturing company, contends that he had 13 credits on the winning machine and that Atamer never inserted the borrowed coins. So when Atamer hit the jackpot, according to Sevakis, he was playing on Sevakis’ money.

But Atamer, a retired hematologist, claims that he did insert the coins and deserves the jackpot--although he made no claims to the money while the captain and crew toasted Sevakis with cake and champagne.

“When Mr. Sevakis claimed the prize, they really didn’t think anything of it,” said Atamer’s attorney, Jack Scarola. “As far as they were concerned, they were thrilled. They were out on vacation with their very close friends and together they had won this huge prize.”

Both men claim to have witnesses. But a surveillance camera apparently did not capture the winning machine at the right time, both attorneys said.

Carnival refused to comment, citing the litigation. Both Sevakis and Atamer declined to comment when contacted by Associated Press.

But Sevakis told the Palm Beach Post that the Atamers had congratulated him on the jackpot and then asked to split the windfall four days after the cruise.

“The principle involved is it was all my money and splitting it in half is kind of ridiculous,” Sevakis said, calling Atamer’s version of events a fabrication. “We’re not that kind of friends.”