Yesterday when I saw that three rich guys from one of the richest suburbs in the United States won $254M in a Powerball lottery drawing, it really ticked me off. I hate when rich people win big money. Let some person who has struggled their whole life win. I can't help it. I love a happy ending. Not that kind. More like the dessert at the end of the buffet. The good guy winning it all.
Anyway, it turns out these three guys are probably not the winners. Some guy who is even more rich hired the trio of investment bankers to be the public face for the win. It makes sense. Lets say you and your friends get together and buy lottery tickets. How many tickets are you going to buy? I bet you buy more than one. If you and two friends can only afford to chip in 33 cents each, then perhaps you should not be playing the lottery no matter how large the payoff. These three guys are supposedly in it together, but they only bought one ticket. One. That does not make sense. The winner also took forever to come forward which is really unusual. Finally, for three guys who just one a quarter of a billion dollars they look about as excited as me before my annual prostate exam. This reminder that Movember is almost over.
Interesting. One of them is my friend's neighbor and he's definitely giving him the impression that he won.
ReplyDeletesome people like to wait to claim the money to wait for the media attention to blow over. Or they are getting financial advice before getting such a large sum of money too.
ReplyDeleteI would wait awhile also if I could afford to do so. Every parasite will come out of the woods with their hands out for money.
Winning the lottery has proven to be more a curse then a gift to a lot of people.
First someone came forward and said he lost his ticket.
ReplyDeleteNow this, the truth is who ever it is they have 1 year to come forward.
But I really get not wanting to come forward. They release your name and enough info for any dirtbag to be able to locate you. I don't understand why you can't remain anonymous if thats your choice.
I live in CT & am quite upset that these rich people won. Don't let anybody tell u different, there are obviously very rich areas of CT but there are also blue collar working parts & some downright ghetto areas.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is the rich people of Manhatten decide they want to have country homes to raise their families or for weekends alway & buy houses in CT. These people work, &spend their money in NY & only part time live in CT & then everybody assumes that all people from CT are rich. If u made Fairfield County a part of NY our income per capita would plummet!
Sorry for the rant but I hate stories like this that perpetuate myths that CT is all upper crust rich country club people.
Actually as a New Yorker they don't even spend their money here, they use one of the low tax states as their personal address just like the Bush's did....Texas is right up there...and yeah I'm with you Serena Skye.
ReplyDeleteIt's a clever strategy - anonymity is your best friend when winning the lotto. So giving the public a rabbit hole to chase for a couple of weeks until the story blows over isn't necessarily stupid.
ReplyDeleteIt takes time to process that kind of jackpot. One has to find a good estate and/or investment attorney and accountant. Better to get your ducks in a row before you put your name in a public record of any kind.
Someone's smart. If I ever win, I plan on spending a set amount on me and my parents (paying for houses, cars, etc.), then creating a foundation with the rest.
ReplyDeleteAnd then my job for the rest of my life will be figuring out what charities the foundation will support. And I'll draw a salary from that.
Now I just have to start buying lotto tickets.
My best friend won 1 million dollars, via scratch ticket this summer. Since then, she has left her hubby & job & is partying every night. She is 48 & dumb! Correction - my ex-best friend.
ReplyDeleteOh Diane! That's just horrid..Yep, it's more a curse than a blessing. But wouldn't her husband still get half of it? That is just plain stoopid..
ReplyDeleteI too would want anonymity. You can get it here in Australia. I also wouldn't tell anybody (outside of my husband). As Misch wrote, you get every person under the sun thinking they have a right to put their hand out. I have already told my friends that if I won money and they put their hand out, we would no longer be friends.
ReplyDeleteDiane, a million's not what it used to be. After taxes she won't have it for long...stupid girl.
ReplyDeleteThe first two things I would do if I ever won the lottery, before coming forward, would be, in order:
ReplyDelete1) get an unlisted phone number
2) meet with a tax lawyer, pronto
She bought 2 race horses & hopes to make money that way. As for the hubby, he is not getting anything. Not even the house which they built too. Not sure what is really going on there now. And yes, 1 million does not go along way.
ReplyDelete@Diane - Woah. Karma's probably going to be real quick on this one. Sorry to hear about that.
ReplyDelete@MISCH
ReplyDeleteThere are no taxes on lottery winnings in Canada.
@Diane
Which scratch ticket did she win it on?
@Sue Ellen - can't remember which one - will confirm & then get back to you. She says she played since she was 17 & checks online to see which prizes are still available with the scratch tickets and then plays them. I'll get back to you.
ReplyDelete@ Sue Ellen - it was a $5 scratch ticket - Instant Million. There are still 2 prizes to be won.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand Enty's sadness at rich people getting richer - what's the alternative? Only poor people are allowed to buy lottery tickets? You have to show your tax forms at the gas station to show you're eligible to buy? (Sorry, just being sarcastic). If it's any comfort, there was a story in the Palm Beach Post today about a guy in Belle Glade, one of the poorest areas in Florida, winning $3 million on a $20 scratch off. He took the lump sum of $1.95 million. Hope he doesn't fritter it away - he's a young guy and if he's careful, he can set himself up for life.
ReplyDelete@Diane
ReplyDeleteThanks. Sometimes I play them, but never win. It's nice to know that people *do* win. Too bad it sounds like she's frittering it away, though.
@SusanB
A couple won 50 million 2 weeks ago 'round these parts and you could totally tell they were not well off in the least, so I was pretty happy to see them win.
@SueEllen - I was really happy for those people. It was obvious they haven't had an easy life, and seemed like genuinely nice people. Not to sound mean or anything, but I hope the woman puts dental work on her list of things to do.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the anger about rich people playing the lottery. I'm shocked they played, since lotteries target poor neighborhoods and poor people. I don't see liquor stores with lottery tickets in affluent neighborhoods. Most lottery systems exploit poor people any way.
ReplyDeleteI heard they were donating to charity.
The whole point of the lottery is: everyone can play and anyone can win.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I understand people's anger--I just don't feel the same way.
Nice try on getting a dig in on the Bushes, Misch. Guess you forgot that, um, the family DOES ACTUALLY LIVE IN TEXAS, and has done so for decades. Why wouldn't they list it as their official address? Many, many presidents have not listed Washington DC as their official address and continued to use their address in their home states.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are plenty of professional athletes who purposely live in Texas just during the off-season so they can claim it as their place of residence. No personal income tax and low property taxes, plus there are all kinds of farming and ranching tax exemptions.
If I won big, I'd get an accountant, a lawyer and a chaperone to save me from myself.
ReplyDelete@Surfer
ReplyDeleteNot mean, honest. I think she was embarrassed about her teeth because when she talked she tried to hide her teeth situation. You
could tell she was really self-conscious about it.
Welp, now she can afford veneers. ;)
Smart move, Anita! I'd go to a good estate planning/tax lawyer before I even claimed the prize.
ReplyDeleteI would do exactly what Surfer & anita_mark said.
ReplyDeleteI love happy endings too, but it can't always happen that way.
I watched some special on lottery winners too and some extraordinarily rich dude (old money) won and his life went to hell in a handbasket after that. I want to say at least one of his grandchildren died and a slew of other horrible things. He died, too, a few years back.
If you like happy endings, watch "It Could Happen to You" which is SUPPOSEDLY about actual lottery winners in NYC. It's always been one of my favorites and makes me cry every time I watch it (even though I'm sure it was critically panned).