The woman who won the $590M Powerball jackpot is 84 years old. She had been waiting in line for a bit at the grocery store, and it being the south, a man was kind enough to do the older woman a favor. "While in line at Publix, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket." Yeah, it probably would have been his. I hope they don't read this quote. They probably will because it is a small town, so it will be talked about everywhere there. Of course the residents of the town also thought the winner was a 26 year old single mom.
That's not really the way a quick pick works. It probably would've gone to someone in Florida or no one at all. Not to mention the fact that the gentleman could have had his own set of numbers that he played.
ReplyDeleteAwk-ward!!!
ReplyDeleteActually it was a lady. She knows about it, they interviewed her for GMA this morning with her child who was with her that day. She seemed ok on camera. Behind closed doors, who knows?
ReplyDeleteYeah, as usual Gayeld is RIGHT (we need to hang out, G)
ReplyDeleteThe whole country was quick-picking in those moments. If the old lady had tripped and fallen and delayed hr purchase by even a few seconds, 'her' numbers might have had time to pop up elsewhere, or not anywhere.
@Libby. I keep telling the kids that, but they don't seem to believe me. ;-) I actually took a math class in college (Finite Math) where one of the thing we did was work out the odds of winning the Lotto (and why you should play Craps if you want to win money at a Casino.)
Deleteand then she could have said "I've fallen and I can't get up"
ReplyDeleteI would have to give that lady a cool mill or something if it was me.
ReplyDeleteIt was a mom who let the old lady cut into the line. She's quoted on Gawker as explaining to her kid that it is better to be polite than rich.
ReplyDeleteShe has $590M. She could give some to that customer. Or she should have never told that story.
ReplyDeleteGayeld---And I KNOW that's why the craps table is so infernally confusing (the betting spaces, the slang)!
ReplyDeleteReno---ITA. I think the old gal should definitely give a trust for the kid's college, and as you say 'a cool mil' to the lady---for being polite.
Its the luck of the draw!!!! And the older lady owes nobody. Since when do we think kindness should always be repaid with money?????
ReplyDeleteIt's not really a small town. Right at a million in the metro area.
ReplyDeleteI hope she sets up a family trust and doesn't keep it all in her name. Other wise her kids are gonna get nailed w/ huge inheritance tax in a couple years.
ReplyDeleteI swear, if I ever hit the lottery, I'm gonna build a Scrooge McDuck style vault and hire some Blackwater types as guards. Keep all that money out of the economy and untraceable. Invest it all in gold, silver, hookers and cocaine. You know, commodities that will hold their value if the economy ever collapses.
I know, I was wondering why she didnt give it to her son to collect. Hopefully she consulted with a tax advisor before she came forward. Otherwise it just seems really stupid.
DeleteThey always say a lot of these lottery winners are broke in 5-10 years. Avg person got no clue what to do with that kind of money or who to trust.
ReplyDelete@The Count - I read that she was accompanied to the Lottery office with her financial adviser as well as her son. Hopefully she's set everything so that this ends well for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI like what Gayeld said. She won the lottery, good for her. Why are we talking about that someone did a good deed and missed out on millions of dollars? Is it because she's 84? And the woman who let her go was a young single Mom? Is someone trying to imply something, like it should have gone to the young Mom, or if it was the guy that he should be kicking himself for letting her go first? It was her turn, her luck, her winnings.
ReplyDeleteScrooge McDuck!!
ReplyDelete+1
I've always figured that the lottery was a tax for people who couldn't do math.
Then again this lady can now afford Life Alert for...life.
So what do I know?
At the quantum level, it's unlikely the earlier customer would have got the same numbers.
ReplyDeleteHad he gone first, it would have changed the seed used to pick the "random" numbers generated.
Timing was everything.
I wonder what percentage if elderly ppl win the lotto? It often seems seniors are claiming the prize!;)
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, congrats to her. While she owes the woman nothing it would be a feel good gesture if she did something nice for her like paid off her mortgage, helped her with $ for her child's education, ect..she's probably not going to spend it all..
I bought an auto-pick for that drawing in Ohio. Perhaps it was my ticket that mixed the numbers just right so she could hit it. Hey, I'd be happy with 100K. Just send it my way for making you the lucky winner!
ReplyDeleteHer first mistake is claiming that money as an individual. I thought you could set up a trust and have the trust collect the winnings, so to speak. That keeps you name out of the press and also keeps all the scam artists and other annoyances away from you.
@Patty - in Florida, by law, all lottery winner's names (and city) are made public. And she did have a financial adviser who I assume knows how to properly handle the money.
ReplyDelete^ Agreed with Patty. And it's called a blind trust. The more generic the better, in this case something like Florida City Trust.
ReplyDeleteThis woman made a huge mistake in putting a google-friendly name and face to the winnings (about $287m after tax adjustments). I don't know why she didn't choose that route or consider it w/ her atty. I've said as much before.
This anecdote about the person who let her cut in line...man, I'd want to check in with her in a year or two to see if she's still saying this.
If the other person hadn't done it then this woman had won either most likely the way the system works. Maybe she'll give them some of it.
ReplyDeleteI would. That kind of money is just obscene, especially at that age.
Randomly generated numbers are just that, random. The other woman would have had the same chances of winning or losing had she gone first.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me crazy that old, almost dead white trash hicks always seem to win the lotto. It's no wonder most have no money left 5-10 years after they win.
ReplyDeleteApparently the old lady barged her way in front of another woman. The clerk noticed and asked the first woman if she wanted her place back, she said no and allowed the old lady to cut. http://gma.yahoo.com/woman-let-powerball-winner-ahead-her-no-regrets-130005843--abc-news-topstories.html
ReplyDeleteGayeld, we did something similar in a college stats class. The professor let us know that statistically, a person has a better chance of a blue airplane toilet poopsicle coming through her roof than of winning the lottery. I've never forgotten that and I never play the lottery. Yes, someone HAS to win, I guess, but I'd rather do a million other things with my meager income.
ReplyDelete@Katie Cunningham: No one is buying that is what made your white trash ass crazy.
ReplyDelete@katie cunningham: well, aren't you just a fun little lollipop triple dipped in psycho?
ReplyDeleteThat is a crazy amount of money, and what a way to get it. If I were the winner I would track the person down and give them something- even if they wouldn't have gotten the winning ticket, their politeness put the winner in the right spot at the right time.
ReplyDelete