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from the what-if-it-were-in-the-Eastern-part-of-the-state dept.
Man wins $7 million in lottery after buying every single ticket:
Kevin Clark, from Candler in North Carolina, had a hunch that the top $US5 million ($A7 million) prize in the Mega Cash scratch-off game would be won in the western part of the state.
So he came up with an unusual strategy to ensure he got his hands on the lucky ticket – by travelling from store to store and buying every ticket he could find.
Mr Clark spent four hours on his quest to purchase every $20 Mega Cash scratchie ticket he came across in around 40 different stores.
And while it is not known how much he spent in total, it’s safe to say he came out on top after a ticket he bought from a Stop N Go outlet in Swannanoa, North Carolina ended up being the winner.
[...] In the end he decided to pocket a $US3 million ($A4.2 million) lump sum instead of taking the $US5 million as an annuity of $US250,000 ($A350,267) per year for two decades.
After taxes, he was left with a total cash prize of around $US2.1 million ($A2.94 million).
“I had a real good feeling it was going to be in the western part of the state,” Mr Clark said, according to the NC Education Lottery.
However, he said he was still stunned when his tactic paid off.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ikanreed on Monday August 10 2020, @01:32PM (4 children)
We have this policy in the US of letting businesses that pay taxes make consumers pay the tax.
So no products have taxes factored into prices in the front of the store. It's a very effective system for making consumers hate taxes since it's now the surprise expense at the end. In both Australia and the UK, it's illegal to not put the full and accurate price of things up front.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @11:29PM
They're not required to do that, they can. The problem is that since so few stores do it, it can be a challenge to explain to the customers that the price they're seeing is what they pay, no tax on top of that. The main places that I see that are places dealing with a lot of cash and not wanting to deal with all the calculations. They just include it and usually round up to the next dollar and that's what the customer pays. The tax portion is then forwarded to the appropriate taxing authority along with the sales information.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday August 11 2020, @03:59AM (2 children)
Canada does the same, just that we understand that something sold for a dollar is usually going to cost $1.12 (varies by Province). Perhaps it says something about Americans that if they can spend their whole life paying sales tax, that they're still surprised by it.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday August 12 2020, @01:37PM (1 child)
That's not the same, it's the opposite. If something is going to cost $1.12 then the pricetag in AU and UK better bloody well say $1.12
You want to put up a notice saying this would be $1.00 if there was no tax then that's ok, but you better be damn clear that that is information only and that the customer will be paying $1.12
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday August 12 2020, @02:53PM
Does the same as America, not Europe.