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You're right, but there's no need to use a lottery machine. I don't think some people understand how transactions change at that scale.
If I wanted $584 million dollars worth of Twizzlers, I'm not going to start my purchase at a gas station. I'm going straight to corporate.
Saves a ton of time by not dealing with individually wrapped Twizzlers, doesn't it? Same with lotto tickets. If I bought every combination, there's no point in printing out individual numbers.
I understand your thought process, so in the case of twizzlers you are 100% right. The lottery has rules and protocol regarding ticket sales and your idea isn't valid in regards to buying all the combinations.
You seem to miss the fact that if they did make the exception for you they would forever damage the credibility of their system which would have a direct impact on future sales. People are buying a dream and if they know someone is buying the whole lottery it really deflates that dream!
I don't need to call the lottery office to ask that or if the sky is blue. Any business entity would bend over backwards for a legitimate 9-figure revenue through a single transaction. That includes the lottery commission.
If you think it would destroy the game if anyone did that, no way. Buying lottery tickets doesn't edge out anyone else from winning. And as an added bonus, we could laugh as that "investor" has to split their winnings and lose big.
The house always wins. Always.
So you didn't call to find out you are 100% wrong then did you!
Location: Living near our Nation's Capitol since 2010
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I bought one Powerball ticket yesterday. Every year, I spend about $5.00 on this kind of gambling. I know I won't win, but it only cost me $2.00 to dream for a day or so.
Honestly, I will be happy for whoever wins. It will be life changing, for sure, and I hope they are generous with some who are less fortunate.
If I won any part of it, I would certainly still keep my job...I love it. But, I would help my children buy a house, I would put some money in a trust for them for later, and I would finally buy that landscaping I have been wanting. LOL
I bought one Powerball ticket yesterday. Every year, I spend about $5.00 on this kind of gambling. I know I won't win, but it only cost me $2.00 to dream for a day or so.
What makes if fun for me is that while the odds of any individual winning are infinitesimally small, you have the same odds to win as anyone else. The odds of someone eventually winning are 100%.
Location: Living near our Nation's Capitol since 2010
2,218 posts, read 3,451,429 times
Reputation: 6035
Quote:
Originally Posted by don6170
What makes if fun for me is that while the odds of any individual winning are infinitesimally small, you have the same odds to win as anyone else. The odds of someone eventually winning are 100%.
You are exactly right! That is what makes daydreaming such fun. After all, someone will win it. Why not me?
You realize the gift tax on giving your family 15-20 million each is 50% right?
So giving 5 people 20 million will cost you 150 million (the last 50 million goes to the IRS)
I don't get the "gift tax" B.S. The money's ALREADY been taxed, why is it being taxed again? Isn't double-taxation illegal since the Revolutionary War?
Furthermore, if I give someone $5 or $100, that's not taxed. So why the hell are they taxing $20,000,000? Same principle, different proportions.
I just don't get the rationale aside from actually cheating people. I understand the "need" for the IRS but like I said, the money's ALREADY been taxed!
I don't get the "gift tax" B.S. The money's ALREADY been taxed, why is it being taxed again? Isn't double-taxation illegal since the Revolutionary War?
Furthermore, if I give someone $5 or $100, that's not taxed. So why the hell are they taxing $20,000,000? Same principle, different proportions.
I just don't get the rationale aside from actually cheating people. I understand the "need" for the IRS but like I said, the money's ALREADY been taxed!
Someone will explain it better, but the gift tax is in place to keep people from getting 'gifted income' or to bypass inheritance tax. Now, you can gift a certain amount (I always use the out-of-date $10k) once per year per person, but I'm not sure how many people can gift that person at one time.
Theory is that my wife can each give our daughter and son-in-law $10k each from each of us for their combined total of $40k without taxes.
Then again, this is why I say I will do nothing with the money for the first year other than have it sit in a non-interest bearing account. It might seem short term foolish, but see what happens Year 2.
Just curious. Have any of you won a jackpot or do you know of anyone who won? What were their experiences?
Not me obviously and not anyone I know personally.
I have a close friend who was from Marshall, MO who lived in the same town as a 200mil+ PB jackpot winner few years ago though....
Here's something interesting I found summarizing some lotto winner stories:
Quote:
Congratulations! You just won millions of dollars in the lottery!
That's great.
Now you're ****ed.
No really.
You are.
You're ****ed.
If you just want to skip the biographical tales of woe of some of the math-tax protagonists, skip on down to the next comment, to see what to do in the event you win the lottery.
You see, it's something of an open secret that winners of obnoxiously large jackpots tend to end up badly with alarming regularity. Not the $1 million dollar winners. But anyone in the nine-figure range is at high risk. Eight-figures? Pretty likely to be screwed. Seven-figures? Yep. Painful. Perhaps this is a consequence of the sample. The demographics of lottery players might be exactly the wrong people to win large sums of money. Or perhaps money is the root of all evil. Either way, you are going to have to be careful.
Don't believe me? Consider this:
Large jackpot winners face double digit multiples of probability versus the general population to be the victim of:
Homicide (something like 20x more likely)
Drug overdose
Bankruptcy (how's that for irony?)
Kidnapping
And triple digit multiples of probability versus the general population rate to be:
Convicted of drunk driving
The victim of Homicide (at the hands of a family member) 120x more likely in this case, ain't love grand?
A defendant in a civil lawsuit
A defendant in felony criminal proceedings
Believe it or not, your biggest enemy if you suddenly become possessed of large sums of money is... you. At least you will have the consolation of meeting your fate by your own hand. But if you can't manage it on your own, don't worry. There are any number of willing participants ready to help you start your vicious downward spiral for you. Mind you, many of these will be "friends," "friendly neighbors," or "family." Often, they won't even have evil intentions. But, as I'm sure you know, that makes little difference in the end. Most aren't evil. Most aren't malicious. Some are. None are good for you.
Jack Whittaker, a Johnny Cash attired, West Virginia native, is the poster boy for the dangers of a lump sum award. In 2002 Mr. Whittaker (55 years old at the time) won what was, also at the time, the largest single award jackpot in U.S. history. $315 million. At the time, he planned to live as if nothing had changed, or so he said. He was remarkably modest and decent before the jackpot, and his ship sure came in, right?
Wrong.
Mr. Whittaker became the subject of a number of personal challenges, escalating into personal tragedies, complicated by a number of legal troubles.
Whittaker wasn't a typical lottery winner either. His net worth at the time of his winnings was in excess of $15 million, owing to his ownership of a successful contracting firm in West Virginia. His claim to want to live "as if nothing had changed" actually seemed plausible. He should have been well equipped for wealth. He was already quite wealthy, after all. By all accounts he was somewhat modest, low profile, generous and good natured. He should have coasted off into the sunset. Yeah. Not exactly.
Whittaker took the all-cash option, $170 million, instead of the annuity option, and took possession of $114 million in cash after $56 million in taxes. After that, things went south.
Whittaker quickly became the subject of a number of financial stalkers, who would lurk at his regular breakfast hideout and accost him with suggestions for how to spend his money. They were unemployed. No, an interview tomorrow morning wasn't good enough. They needed cash NOW. Perhaps they had a sure-fire business plan. Their daughter had cancer. A niece needed dialysis. Needless to say, Whittaker stopped going to his breakfast haunt. Eventually, they began ringing his doorbell. Sometimes in the early morning. Before long he was paying off-duty deputies to protect his family. He was accused of being heartless. Cold. Stingy.
Letters poured in. Children with cancer. Diabetes. MS. You name it. He hired three people to sort the mail. A detective to filter out the false claims and the con men (and women) was retained.
Brenda, the clerk who had sold Whittaker the ticket, was a victim of collateral damage. Whittaker had written her a check for $44,000 and bought her house, but she was by no means a millionaire. Rumors that the state routinely paid the clerk who had sold the ticket 10% of the jackpot winnings hounded her. She was followed home from work. Threatened. Assaulted.
Whittaker's car was twice broken into, by trusted acquaintances who watched him leave large amounts of cash in it. $500,000 and $200,000 were stolen in two separate instances. The thieves spiked Whittaker's drink with prescription drugs in the first instance. The second incident was the handiwork of his granddaughter's friends, who had been probing the girl for details on Whittaker's cash for weeks.
Even Whittaker's good-faith generosity was questioned. When he offered $10,000 to improve the city's water park so that it was more handicap accessible, locals complained that he spent more money at the strip club. (Amusingly this was true).
Whittaker invested quite a bit in his own businesses, tripled the number of people his businesses employed (making him one of the larger employers in the area) and eventually had given away $14 million to charity through a foundation he set up for the purpose. This is, of course, what you are "supposed" to do. Set up a foundation. Be careful about your charity giving. It made no difference in the end.
To top it all off, Whittaker had been accused of ruining a number of marriages. His money made other men look inferior, they said, wherever he went in the small West Virginia town he called home. Resentment grew quickly. And festered. Whittaker paid four settlements related to this sort of claim. Yes, you read that right. Four.
His family and their immediate circle were quickly the victims of odds-defying numbers of overdoses, emergency room visits and even fatalities. His granddaughter, the eighteen year old "Brandi" (who Whittaker had been giving a $2100.00 per week allowance) was found dead after having been missing for several weeks. Her death was, apparently, from a drug overdose, but Whittaker suspected foul play. Her body had been wrapped in a tarp and hidden behind a rusted-out van. Her seventeen year old boyfriend had expired three months earlier in Whittaker's vacation house, also from an overdose. Some of his friends had robbed the house after his overdose, stepping over his body to make their escape and then returning for more before stepping over his body again to leave. His parents sued for wrongful death claiming that Whittaker's loose purse strings contributed to their son's death. Amazingly, juries are prone to award damages in cases such as these. Whittaker settled. Again.
Even before the deaths, the local and state police had taken a special interest in Whittaker after his new-found fame. He was arrested for minor and less minor offenses many times after his winnings, despite having had a nearly spotless record before the award. Whittaker's high profile couldn't have helped him much in this regard.
In 18 months Whittaker had been cited for over 250 violations ranging from broken tail lights on every one of his five new cars, to improper display of renewal stickers. A lawsuit charging various police organizations with harassment went nowhere and Whittaker was hit with court costs instead.
Whittaker's wife filed for divorce, and in the process froze a number of his assets and the accounts of his operating companies. Caesars in Atlantic City sued him for $1.5 million to cover bounced checks, caused by the asset freeze.
Today Whittaker is badly in debt, and bankruptcy looms large in his future.
But, hey, that's just one example, right?
Wrong.
Nearly one third of multi-million dollar jackpot winners eventually declare bankruptcy. Some end up worse. To give you just a taste of the possibilities, consider the fates of:
Billie Bob Harrell, Jr.: $31 million. Texas, 1997. As of 1999: Committed suicide in the wake of incessant requests for money from friends and family. “Winning the lottery is the worst thing that ever happened to me.
William âBudâ Post: $16.2 million. Pennsylvania. 1988. In 1989: Brother hires a contract murderer to kill him and his sixth wife. Landlady sued for portion of the jackpot. Convicted of assault for firing a gun at a debt collector. Declared bankruptcy. Dead in 2006.
Evelyn Adams: $5.4 million (won TWICE 1985, 1986). As of 2001: Poor and living in a trailer gave away and gambled most of her fortune.
Suzanne Mullins: $4.2 million. Virginia. 1993. As of 2004: No assets left.
Shefik Tallmadge: $6.7 million. Arizona. 1988. As of 2005: Declared bankruptcy.
Thomas Strong: $3 million. Texas. 1993. As of 2006: Died in a shoot-out with police.
Victoria Zell: $11 million. 2001. Minnesota. As of 2006: Broke. Serving seven year sentence for vehicular manslaughter.
Karen Cohen: $1 million. Illinois. 1984. As of 2000: Filed for bankruptcy. As of 2006: Sentenced to 22 months for lying to federal bankruptcy court.
Jeffrey Dampier: $20 million. Illinois. 1996. As of 2006: Kidnapped and murdered by own sister-in-law.
Ed Gildein: $8.8 million. Texas. 1993. As of 2003: Dead. Wife saddled with his debts. As of 2005: Wife sued by her own daughter who claimed that she was taking money from a trust fund and squandering cash in Las Vegas.
Willie Hurt: $3.1 million. Michigan. 1989. As of 1991: Addicted to cocaine. Divorced. Broke. Indicted for murder.
Michael Klingebiel: $2 million. As of 1998 sued by own mother claiming he failed to share the jackpot with her.
Janite Lee: $18 million. 1993. Missouri. As of 2001: Filed for bankruptcy with $700 in assets.
As I understand it, a blind trust would protect my privacy, which would be my first priority. Otherwise, my name would become public, and that kind of money is likely to bring out all sorts of crazy people who might threaten my family's safety. I would not wish to subject any of my loved ones to that kind of stress. Keeping my name private would also allow me to disappear and live a quiet life out of the spotlight. I know where I would go, and it would be easy to blend in. The community is wealthy but not ostentatious, and I could live very comfortably there with plenty left over to give generously to causes I value.
I would take the annuity because it's more than sufficient to fund my wildest dreams, and I'm young enough that it's likely I'll be around long enough to see the full thirty years of pay outs. And if I die in ten years? So what? At a certain point the quantity of money becomes ridiculous, and I think a billion-plus dollars more than qualifiies. I have no desire to be able to buy a small country.
That is a good point. The only thing that as far as I understand about blind trusts is that even you do not have "full" control of the money but you have to draft a plan for how that money is spent and a power of attorney person handles the money...so....anyway need legal expert on this one
Quote:
Originally Posted by City Guy997S
You realize the gift tax on giving your family 15-20 million each is 50% right?
So giving 5 people 20 million will cost you 150 million (the last 50 million goes to the IRS)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soviet
I don't get the "gift tax" B.S. The money's ALREADY been taxed, why is it being taxed again? Isn't double-taxation illegal since the Revolutionary War?
Furthermore, if I give someone $5 or $100, that's not taxed. So why the hell are they taxing $20,000,000? Same principle, different proportions.
I just don't get the rationale aside from actually cheating people. I understand the "need" for the IRS but like I said, the money's ALREADY been taxed!
Yeah gift tax is 40% right now if you give more than $14k. (but after reading some more it seems it can get more complicated...there certain gifts that are excluded from the tax and there's some lifetime giving limit as well?)
But you see the problem is not all gifts are from money that's already taxed. I think it's to try to close loopholes.
I mean imagine if you can just give money to a person with 0% tax rate. That is HUGE source for receiving money with no penalty...so maybe a business can work around this and pay people in "gifts" so the employees can avoid basically any taxes....not sure though.
But I think the historical reason it was enacted was to stop people from getting out of the estate tax....cause then you can just give all your money to someone from your estate to theirs. Which estate tax is another huge debate and I can see your side very well
HAHAHAHA LOLOLOL...
You guys are killing your brain cells on paying tax on something that's not yours will be yours if you win???
Hell, I'll pay more tax if needed as long as I win.
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I'm going straight to corporate.
Same with lotto tickets. If I bought every combination, there's no point in printing out individual numbers.
Any business entity would bend over backwards for a legitimate 9-figure revenue through a single transaction. That includes the lottery commission.
