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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: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday August 11 2020, @02:45AM
AU lotteries return 55% as tax-free prizes.
The rest is supposedly spent on hospitals, but really it is just revenue. The main difference is lottery (and other gambling) wins are NOT subject to income tax. The rationale was that if wins were taxable income then the cost of the tickets (or other bets) must be a tax-deductible expense. Somebody did the numbers and worked out it was better to simply make the prizes tax-free.
If you win five million, they put five million in your bank account and the only people who come after you for some of it are friends and relatives.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.