Maine resident scores 1.35 billion lottery ticket

[Ted Hoppe]

One ticket sold in Maine beat the eerie odds of Friday the 13th and its buyer is set to claim the Mega Millions jackpot of about $1.35 billion, the lottery said.
Friday night’s winning numbers were 30-43-45-46-61 with a Mega Ball of 14. The ticket was sold at a gas station in the town of Lebanon, according to the Maine Lottery.

[Andrew2]

One ticket sold in Maine beat the eerie odds of Friday the 13th and its buyer is set to claim the Mega Millions jackpot of about $1.35 billion, the lottery said.
Friday night’s winning numbers were 30-43-45-46-61 with a Mega Ball of 14. The ticket was sold at a gas station in the town of Lebanon, according to the Maine Lottery.

I really don't understand why, if it goes past a certain figure, that they don't split it up for more winners..

[Jim Bow]

There's only 1.5 million people in Maine. The winner could give each one a nice gift of $450 and throw a party.

Based on the 1 lump sum payment.

[Paul Pless]

steven bauer is suddenly not taking my calls

[LeeG]

I bet they get a fancy pickup.

[Garret]

Mr. Bauer drove an hour to buy a lottery ticket? Must be he knew something...

[George Jung]

that would certainly change your life, and likely, your circle of friends.

Just saw a story in the SD Argusleader - a young guy who won the lottery many years ago (couple hundred mil), bought a large ranch in western SD. Just sold it for dbbl what he paid ($34 mill) because he/his wife want to spend more time at his wife's ranch - in Canada. Wonder what he 'knows' about the $hit$storm coming to the USA.

Unusual for winners to hang on to it. I'd always read that 75% had 'lost it all' within 3 years or so.

[Paul Pless]

id like to give it a go at losing 1.3 billion

[LeeG]

I’d want to start compost cooperatives.

[Paul Pless]

fart

[George Jung]

id like to give it a go at losing 1.3 billion

*there is a precedent. Ask Musk!

*1.3? Pffftt! amateur!

[Jim Bow]

really don't understand why, if it goes past a certain figure, that they don't split it up for more winners..

More than one person can have a winning ticket.

[CWSmith]

Lebanon is right on the NH border. It may well be a NH resident.

[Hugh MacD]

*there is a precedent. Ask Musk!

*1.3? Pffftt! amateur!

Ya gotta start somewhere

[Jim Bow]

Lebanon is right on the NH border. It may well be a NH resident.

Or a hipster in a Range Rover returning to Boston from Mt Washington. Stopped for gas and a Snickers.

[WI-Tom]

Good luck to whoever it is. NPR ran a long series about lottery winners. Winning a big lottery pretty much ruined the life of everyone they interviewed.

Tom

[rbgarr]

Interesting that the winner can remain anonymous and has a year to claim the choice of payout: Immediate lump sum or payout over 29 years. Which would you choose? I wonder if the winner cold set up a foundation or religious institution to avoid taxes before collecting. Is the yearly payout inheritable?

[skuthorp]

I would have thought that being annonymous was a no brainer safety measure for the winner and his family. And you'd need at least a year to comr to terms with it or it could ruin your life. Is it an heritable asset? Is the lump sum taxed or just the income?

Best maintain as normal a life as you could till you get your head around it…..and tell NO ONE! They'll blab.

You could do a powerful lot of good with that sum, and 12 months gives you time to set up charitable foundations to carry that out. Oh And BTW, NO donations to political parties, you could buy the whole trump party for that!

[David W Pratt]

I think the 2023 state budget for Maine is about $960,000,000.00.

[Paul Pless]

a few years ago someone here in michigan won a half billion and before collecting they assigned the ticket to a law firm who collected the winnings on their behalf

that was at least smart

[Breakaway]

Id like to see some citations for these stories and studies about peoples lives being ruined. I can understand a person running through the fortune in short order. But, that is not a ruined life. Its a return to normal.

Kevin


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[WI-Tom]

Id like to see some citations for these stories and studies about peoples lives being ruined. I can understand a person running through the fortune in short order. But, that is not a ruined life. Its a return to normal.

Kevin

Nope, I'm not talking about running through the money and being back to normal. I'm talking about lives being pretty much ruined. I think it was this episode of "This American Life" from 1998 I was thinking of:

WINDFALL

A good show. It sure made me rethink my belief that winning lots of money would be a good thing.

Tom

[Breakaway]

Nope, I'm not talking about running through the money and being back to normal. I'm talking about lives being pretty much ruined. I think it was this episode of "This American Life" from 1998 I was thinking of:

WINDFALL

A good show. It sure made me rethink my belief that winning lots of money would be a good thing.

Tom

That is one winners story.

Its an awful big brush that paints a picture of most lottery winners lives being ruined. Do you have any evidence for that assertion?

Kevin


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[WI-Tom]

That is one winners story.

Its an awful big brush that paints a picture of most lottery winners lives being ruined. Do you have any evidence for that assertion?

Kevin

Well, first, it's an episode that covers 5 different stories about people who received an unexpected bunch of cash. Only one was a lottery winner, but the other stories are relevant as well.

Secondly, I never made any assertion that "most lottery winners' lives are ruined." What I posted was this:

Good luck to whoever it is. NPR ran a long series about lottery winners. Winning a big lottery pretty much ruined the life of everyone they interviewed.

So, working from memory 25 years ago, I overstated it. Only 60% of the people they interviewed found that an unexpected infusion of cash did bad things to their lives.

Still more than enough to suggest that a sudden infusion of cash might not be a good thing, in my opinion. You, of course, are free to believe what you want. Me? I'm not so eager to win billions of dollars. Or even millions.

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Id like to see some citations for these stories and studies about peoples lives being ruined. I can understand a person running through the fortune in short order. But, that is not a ruined life. Its a return to normal.

Kevin

Seems it's not just NPR:

https://www.thatslife.com.au/winning...ruined-my-life

https://www.buzzfeed.com/lizmrichard...horror-stories

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b2076456.html

Type "winning the lottery ruined my life" into your search bar and you'll find plenty more.

Tom

[Garret]

I don't remember exactly, but 60 Minutes did a story on it a ways back. As I remember, quite a few ended up in bad shape financially (these were smaller winners - like 1 million). They also had both family & friend issues: "Hey - you're rich, can you give me $10K?" type stuff.

Some lotteries require that you be identified - I guess for advertising - but I can see how everyone knowing you just won X million could be a problem.

[LeeG]

I think the 2023 state budget for Maine is about $960,000,000.00.

ok that’s a hell of a thought

[rbgarr]

I think the 2023 state budget for Maine is about $960,000,000.00.

is that mentioned as a comparison to the size of the lottery winnings?

Meanwhile, the winnings aren't paid out of the state budget if that's the implication. The Mega Millions tickets are sold nation, even worldwide, and that's what funds awards. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/new...y/10163095002/

[George Jung]

What percentage of people who win the lottery lose it all?



Easy come, easy go. Life after winning the lottery may not stay glamorous forever. Whether they win $500 million or $1 million, about 70 percent of lotto winners lose or spend all that money in five years or less.Nov 10, 2022

https://bigthink.com/the-present/doe...uin-your-life/

Don’t most lottery winners end up broke?

People often say that most lottery winners end up broke. That’s partly thanks to an often-cited a statistic from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) that claimed 70% of lottery winners go bankrupt just a few years after winning. In January, however, the NEFE said that statistic isn’t backed up by research.








The recent study also showed that most lottery winners don’t blow through their winnings. In fact, the researchers found that most winners don’t even quit their jobs.

“We saw that people who won large sums of money were still wealthier 10 years after the fact, compared to people who won small sums of money,” Cesarini said. “Also, if you look at things like labor supply – the people who win large sums of money do cut down on work but it’s quite rare for them to quit altogether. They cut down mostly in the form of taking longer vacations.”


https://bigthink.com/the-present/doe...uin-your-life/

looks like YMMV.

[George Jung]

as I recall, SD is one of the states not allowing winners to 'opt out' of being identified; undoubtedly, marketing for the state. That young guy I mentioned above, won near Winner, SD, but felt the need to leave the community afterwards. Got lots of local attention, none of it good.

A vietnamese family won, in Pierre, SD, years back. Kept quiet, sold their nail business - and moved to the East coast, before their names were announced.

[David W Pratt]

Id like to see some citations for these stories and studies about peoples lives being ruined. I can understand a person running through the fortune in short order. But, that is not a ruined life. Its a return to normal.

Kevin


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The stories about the winners ruin MY life, because they are not about me.

[CWSmith]

Great line from Fiddler on the Roof:

Money is the world's curse. May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.

[Breakaway]

Seems it's not just NPR:

https://www.thatslife.com.au/winning...ruined-my-life

https://www.buzzfeed.com/lizmrichard...horror-stories

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b2076456.html

Type "winning the lottery ruined my life" into your search bar and you'll find plenty more.

Tom

I am sure. Such stories make great headlines, sell newspapers, increase website page views and encourage podcast subscriptions.

Woman Wins Lottery and Lives Happily Ever After is a non-story. It wont pay the bills.

As such, I am not convinced.

Kevin


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[WI-Tom]

I am sure. Such stories make great headlines, sell newspapers, increase website page views and encourage podcast subscriptions.

Woman Wins Lottery and Lives Happily Ever After is a non-story. It wont pay the bills.

As such, I am not convinced.

Kevin

Hmm... First, you're not convinced of what? That a huge unexpected infusion of cash can ruin people's lives? Despite the evidence that it clearly HAS done so in many cases?

Second, you asked for citations. I provided them, and explained how you might find as many as you'd like to find. The evidence about the dangers of sudden access to major amounts of cash--evidence that you seemed to think doesn't exist--does in fact exist. Some people change their minds when the evidence warrants it. Others move the goalposts.

Third, you still seem to believe that I made some kind of statement that every lottery winner will have their lives ruined. But I didn't.

Tom

[Breakaway]

Hmm... First, you're not convinced of what? That a huge unexpected infusion of cash can ruin people's lives? Despite the evidence that it clearly HAS done so in many cases?

Second, you asked for citations. I provided them, and explained how you might find as many as you'd like to find. The evidence about the dangers of sudden access to major amounts of cash--evidence that you seemed to think doesn't exist--does in fact exist. Some people change their minds when the evidence warrants it. Others move the goalposts.

Third, you still seem to believe that I made some kind of statement that every lottery winner will have their lives ruined. But I didn't.

Tom

You have not provided evidence of anything except a handful of lurid stories. These are only slightly more convincing than personal anecdotes.

Twas you moved the goalposts when you expanded the discussion beyond lottery winners to include all types of financial windfall.

I wasnt picking on you. Several posters stated that lottery winners commonly have their lives ruined. That prompted me to ask if anyone had cites . So far, no evidence has been shown that that is the case.

Kevin


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