A Sydney Greek woman who won $6 million on lotto six months after splitting from her husband of 20 years has fought off his court bid to claim half.

The lucky gambler – who bought the winning ticket using her sister’s playing card with their late dad’s lucky word on it – pocketed $5 million and gave her sibling $1 million.

The man has lost his legal bid for a share of his ex-wife’s $6 million lotto win after an appeal court found the ticket was bought when the pair were leading separate lives.

In the second round of a court battle stretching over more than two years, a three-judge bench of the Family Court this month rejected the man’s claim to a share of the spoils.

The couple, who have been given the pseudonyms of Mr and Mrs Eufrosin to protect their identities, were married for 20 years before they separated in July 2008.

The woman started buying weekly lotto tickets before the marriage and bought the winning ticket six months after the separation, while she was on a holiday.

She gave her sister $1 million because they had discussed sharing any win and her sister had given her money each week.

A single judge of the Family Court rejected Mr Eufrosin’s claim of a share of her $5 million portion of the winnings in May last year.

The court heard the woman had been particularly worried about her future after the split with her husband in 2008, and her sister had started giving her $20 or $50 a week to help her financially.

The woman and her sister discussed their late father, who’d regularly bought gambling tickets, which he named his ‘tihi’, Greek for ‘luck’.

The sister had a player’s card with the word on it, and urged the ex-wife to use it each week, promising to give her some money toward the cost.

Justice Stevenson concluded that Mr Eufrosin had made “no contribution” to the money his wife used to buy the winning ticket in early 2009.

Mr Eufrosin appealed against the decision to the full bench of the Family Court.

The three-judge bench – Justices Stephen Thackray, Peter Murphy and Murray Aldridge – dismissed his appeal.

They ordered the husband to pay the wife’s costs.