From Reader Mike L. comes this piece of good news:
A Pennsylvania man says he is celebrating his Mega Millions win by getting engaged. The man, who didn’t release his identity to the public, reportedly won a $1 million Mega Millions prize in New Jersey with a ticket he ordered using the Jackpocket app. Representatives with the lottery app said the lucky winner decided to purchase the winning ticket while on a break from work.
First things first: I hope he had the foresight to hold back $450k in taxes from that million, otherwise his friendly local neighborhood IRS agent is going to give it to him good, as will the poxy New Jersey tax enforcers.
Second thing: yes, his luck was good, but not that good. Why?
The winning ticket matched all five white balls, just missing the gold Mega Ball.
Had he got the Mega Ball, his winnings would have been about $120 million, in which case he could have got engaged in a cabana at the Four Seasons in the Seychelles:
As it is, his $550k is a lovely windfall, but after buying a decent house, an engagement ring and paying for the wedding, he’ll still have to keep on working.
Being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be…
The majority of lottery winners wind up broke and further in debt after 4 or 5 years. And the typical explanation goes along the lines of ” well I spent a lot on hookers and drugs….. The rest I just wasted. And in more than a few cases, winning the lottery is a terminal situation. Most people are just not equipped to handle a sudden increase wealth. They have no training or exposure to others with wealth so they are doomed to failure.
I had a shirt-tail acquaintance with a lotto winner about 2 decades ago. When landlines were a thing my then roommate had been roommates with the lotto winner, whereupon moving out pre-lotto winning, he kept the phone number, so the lotto winner on many lists still showed the old phone number.
The calls we would get from people wanting handouts was astounding.
My late wife’s mother won a significant amount (about $600K) in the Illinois lottery back in the 80’s. I think after taxes she wound up with $410K. She was a poor immigrant from Brazil with a bunch of kids and no husband–it was gone in days, supposedly all in the form of “loans” to some of her kids that never got paid back. My wife and I lived in Hawaii at the time and weren’t in on the split, but her younger brother spent half his on cocaine and the other half on rehab.
My chances of winning are exactly zero since I’ve never purchased a ticket.
Much depends upon how old you are. A win of £1M would make my retirement much more comfortable. Note that over here we pay tax on the ticket, not the win. (HMRC, of course, win either way.) But a win of £1M wouldn’t do so much for my nephew. He’s a very sensible young man: he’d be able to buy a modest house and a car when he graduates, and the remainder would provide a modest boost to his income, but it wouldn’t enable a life of luxury. Indeed, the biggest thing it would do for him is give him time to find the right job and the ability to tell a bad boss to fuck off.
I’ve been to resorts like that, twice.
Never again.
I’m a peasant. I like a raffish walk-up bed-sit in the old town, the Altstadt, the Casco Viejo, the Staré Mesto. I don’t drink fine wines or cocktails, I drink beer and plonk. I don’t dance the Viennese Waltz, I dance American swing, country slow waltz and Latin dances when I’m drunk.
Winning a lottery would do me no good at all. Prolly kill me from alcohol poisoning.