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Husband won $35 bucks once, nothing since. We both keep meaning to buy tickets and forget. Best girlfriend and I have a deal, whichever one of us wins first treats the other to plastic surgery and a nice vacation.
However, in Canada a lottery win is considered a "windfall", an unexpected gain, and is therefore NOT TAXED. You get it ALL.
I think many countries are this way, except for the good olde US of A!
I know/knew two lottery winners. One of my friends in elementary school (back in the 80's) his parents won a few million in the PA Lottery, I forget what they did, but I think they continued working their jobs. Then in the 90's my dentist also won a few million in the PA Lottery and nothing really changed, he continued to be a dentist, maybe cut his hours back a little bit, but still a dentist to this day. I've had aunts and uncles win $5,000 or $10,000 a few times in the PA Lottery, but they play a ton.
Husband won $35 bucks once, nothing since. We both keep meaning to buy tickets and forget. Best girlfriend and I have a deal, whichever one of us wins first treats the other to plastic surgery and a nice vacation.
Husband won $35 bucks once, nothing since. We both keep meaning to buy tickets and forget. Best girlfriend and I have a deal, whichever one of us wins first treats the other to plastic surgery and a nice vacation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soviet
What kind of plastic surgery? ;-)
Maybe they'll be cutting up each others credit cards?
If they're lavish spenders, what a thoughtful gesture, especially before they start buying everyone presents to bring back from wherever they're going!
The odds seem about even, ie., the stated odds just about equals the amount of the annuity. But That is a huge lie due to taxes and most winners wanting the cash. Plus the math they show is wrong. The 292 million to 1 is the number of possible combinations that can come up on the balls. The odds of you matching that is ANOTHER 292 million to one, so the chances of you as a specific individual winning are 85,264,000,000,000,000:1
That's called 85 quadrillion, considerably larger than the number of stars on the known universe. You cannot improve these odds by buying a ticket.
"But if it's you it's 100%"
Are you referring to Powerball? If so, the cost of a ticket is $2, not $1.
Megamillions is currently the better deal with a jackpot of $346 million for a $1 cost. After discounting for interest and taxes, the cash value is about $140 million. So it's not a screaming deal exactly but not as much of a rip-off as it usually is.
The probability of winning (p=1 in 259 million) is not wrong. p^2 is the probability of you getting a given set of numbers with a quick pick ticket AND the lottery choosing those same numbers. But that's irrelevant. All 259 million combinations are just as good for winning. You can pick any numbers you like or buy a quick pick ticket and the probability of winning is the same -- 1 in 258,895,850.
I used to work in a credit card operations of a certain national bank and a woman who worked in the same large operations center that I didn't actually know won $20,000. She desperately needed the money to fly to Europe to see her mother before she died, wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise according to what I heard.
I've won much smaller amounts. $500 was my biggest win off a $5 scratch off. Won $300 on a drawing here in Ohio named Rolling Cash 5. A co-worker gave me a couple $1 scratch offs for my birthday and I won $100 on one of them. She and I used to give each other a couple lottery tickets for each other's birthdays and almost every time we won something small.
While I haven't won - yet - this story is 100% true although most people wont believe it. In 2007 I saw a couple on "How I Won the Lottery" where the woman said she saw numbers in a dream, had her fiance (or husband) play them and they won a large jackpot. In 2011 I was watching another episode (I'm pretty sure the show was re-branded How the Lottery Changed My Life) where they showed the youngest Powerball winner in history who won when he was 18. So I thought I've heard stories like this multiple times, why couldn't it happen to me???
Having a very poor short term memory thanks to very severe allergies and allergy-induced asthma, I placed a notepad and pen next to my bed, and having just gotten into the habit of praying again I decided to pray to be shown winning numbers. Not really what we are supposed to do when praying I know but I did, after having thanked God for all his blessings. First two nights, nothing. Next two nights I didn't even bother putting the notepad next to my bed. Next night, Thursday, I decided to put the notepad there one or two more nights. And here's what most people wont believe...
I woke up around 4:15 am needing to take a walk, ahem, and realized I had been shown numbers. Could only remember one of them. Normally when I wake up during the night I'm wide awake and have trouble getting back to sleep. This time it was like I was in a trance. I was very calm, my eyelids were heavy, and I wasn't worried about not remembering the other numbers, thinking to myself they'll have to show me them again. I wrote the number down and went back to bed where I promptly fell back to sleep quickly.
Five minutes later I woke up saw the first number again, and this time saw another number below it and off to the right another number that was obviously off by itself and I think in a circle or lit up or something to make it look different from the others. Wrote those two numbers down, went back to sleep again uncharacteristically quickly, and ten minutes later woke up having seen the first number again and another number below it.
It was time to get up to get ready for work and I was wide awake anyway so couldn't get back to sleep if I wanted to. One problem, I still needed the other two numbers. Somehow I knew one of the numbers was in the 20's and it was between two numbers, and the other number was low and again between two numbers. Turns out two of the numbers corresponded to a very special day in my life from a few years prior. As soon as I realized it I knew that was the correct combination.
I've played that set of numbers every Megamillions and Powerball drawing since the spring of 2011. And when Lucky for Life started in Ohio I began playing that game as well. I may never win, but when something like that happens where you are shown a set of numbers over the course of three dreams it's awful hard not to play them. Everything in God's time, so it's possible I will still win. One thing's for sure, if the numbers come up during my lifetime I will win.
If I ever do win at some point I'll revisit this thread and mention it. Although people wont believe that either I imagine. It may be hard to believe someone would be shown numbers in one dream, let alone over the course of three, but people have seen numbers in dreams, played them and won, keep that in mind. If someone from Toledo wins the big one you might just wonder, "Huh, I wonder if that was OhioJB that won.".
Probably none, because if it came right down to it we'd both be too chicken to go under the knife for vanity. But the vacation still stands.
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