Lottery

[MackemX]

do you have a flutter on the Lottery and what's the most you've won?

I do once in a while but only on the rollovers. I've got 4 out of 6 numbers before and got £73 for it

An old mate of mine did win the UK Lotto once though. It had been a rollover and was something £17 million . He picked me up on the Sunday to go to work and told me to congratulate him. I asked why and he said he's won the lottery the night before, well his missus had. Obviously I told him to **** off as who in their right mind would be going to work after winning the Lottery

the thing was that week there were 13 winners (normally only 1-3 in previous weeks) to share the £18 million so they got something like £1.38 million from the winning ticket. The other killer was that his missus was also part of a syndicate of 35 so they only got £39,000 . Nice amount but obvioulsy not enough to retire on

I kept taking the piss outta him due to the fact there were 13 winners that week. If they had been the only winners then £17 million shared between 35 is just short of £500,000

another mate at work got 5 outta 6 numbers and got £1500. His 6th number was 1 away from one that came out, can you get any closer?

[hudsonf]

I play a lottery called Mega Millions and some times one called Pick Six. The most I won was a little over $5,000.00. We just had a couple win $250,000,000.00 before taxes.

[Guest]

Sooo sweeeet!
125 mil for the lump payment.
66% after taxes 82.5mil
I could live on that for awhile

I only won $3 on that drawing

[ZAPPER]

Years ago one of our foremen fired a guy, and that same night the guy hit the lottery for a few million.

I have been in a house that was built by an older couple that hit like 52 million. A VERY NICE log cabin with some or the best fitting millwork that I have ever seen.

Personal best? like $17 on the scratch offs and $5 on a drawing. I don't play unless it is $100 mill or better. I mean what good is $99 mill?

[Guest]

Years ago one of our foremen fired a guy, and that same night the guy hit the lottery for a few million.

I have been in a house that was built by an older couple that hit like 52 million. A VERY NICE log cabin with some or the best fitting millwork that I have ever seen.

Personal best? like $17 on the scratch offs and $5 on a drawing. I don't play unless it is $100 mill or better. I mean what good is $99 mill?

There was a lotto commercial in the late 80's like that. 2 guys talking.one guy saying he doesnt play unless it gets to a certain amount the other beaking it down to"do you have that $20 you owe me".

[ZAPPER]

We got another guy at work that plays the pick three or five or one of the dailys or whatever variation, and he has hit like $5000 three or four times. He bought like a two year old Mustang with his winnings.

I am pretty much a hateful jealous kind of guy when it comes to money, but the few folks that I actually know that have won money, deserve the money.

[hudsonf]

I don't play unless it is $100 mill or better. I mean what good is $99 mill?

I agree! I couldn't live on $99 million.

[ZAPPER]

The lottery is always a big topic around work. Every one tells us their dreams of the big life and so on. A co-worker and I have been around these conversations so many times that we can steer them in just about any direction we want. One of our favorite ways to end the conversations and bust everyones bubble goes like this.

My Coworker: Hey man, do you play? You cant win if you don't play.

Me: No I don't play

My Co-worker: Why not?

ME: Well, I figure that I got about the same odds of winning if'n I buy a ticket or not.

Then the depression sets in and everyone goes back to work

[AlecWest]

I play the lottery once in a blue moon ... and usually only when the jackpot is 8-digits or better ($10 mil. or more). But, while it would certainly brighten my financial outlook to win, I'm certain there's a downside.

Many years ago, I took a brief vacation in southern British Columbia and spent the night at a motel in the Osoyoos Lake area. Channel-surfing, I came across a program discussing Canadian lottery winners. The first story was upbeat. An unemployed machinist bought a lottery ticket with coins he'd saved in a jar and won a $5 million jackpot. But the next story was a horror story.

A woman in her 50s won an $11 million jackpot. But, she was one of those people who liked her life and didn't want to change things. One of the things she liked was her job. But shortly after winning, co-workers she'd considered friends began to treat her "differently" ... some who suggested she quit so someone else who "needed" the job could get it ... some who began asking for "temporary loans" for one thing or another ... and some who just asked for money outright. It became such a distraction in her office that her boss suggested she leave. And she did.

All the while, she was getting mail, phone calls, and even visitors at her door for all kinds of reasons -- salesmen, accountants, investment bankers, venture capitalists, charities, etc., etc. Finally, she moved from the home she'd been living in for years to another home without leaving a forwarding address ... and getting a new "unlisted" phone number shared only with persons she considered her "closest" friends. Even so, shortly afterward, she received a phone call from someone who told her to leave a certain amount of money in a paper bag at some secretive location ... and that if she didn't, the caller said "bad things" would happen to her sister's family.

So again, she moved ... and moved her sister and her sister's family out of the area to an "undisclosed" location ... sharing her new address and phone number with no one. While she was discussing this ordeal, the TV studio used electronic distortion to hide her face ... which was the only way she agreed to be interviewed. But how the TV station found out where she was is something that wasn't mentioned. Bottom line? The life she loved was gone. Winning the lottery forced her to start a new life from scratch ... leaving all her old friends, even those considered "best" friends, behind.

But, my favorite lottery story of all was something that happened in Chicago. This woman was a lotto junkie, always buying tickets for the Illinois lotto. One morning, the day after the drawing, she saw the lotto numbers on TV and wrote them down. Then, she went to her purse to retrieve her ticket ... and the first line of her ticket was an exact match. Just to be sure, she called a local convenience store to verify the numbers she'd seen on TV ... and sure enough, they were the same.

Immediately, she got dressed and went to work at her job as usual. She marched into her boss's office to tell him how much she hated working for him all those years and called him a few names as well ... then quit. Then, she went to the lottery office to claim her prize. Problem is, the ticket was bought after the drawing (grin).

Seems her son decided to play a practical joke on her. He'd watched the lotto drawing when it happened, then had an adult friend buy a ticket with those exact numbers on them ... slipping it into his mom's purse when she was asleep (while pocketing the real ticket she'd bought herself).

The news story about it revealed that, after eating what must have been a lot of "crow," she did manage to get her job back. But it didn't reveal what she did to her son when he fessed up.

Shortly after that, I pulled a somewhat similar practical joke on a lotto-junkie employee who worked for me. I had another employee ask to see his ticket ... and take down the numbers on one line. Then later that night, he asked (as always) if anybody had heard the winning numbers. I produced a piece of paper with the numbers on them and he went back to his area. Hehehe, he came back, eyes wide, shouting "Oh my God, oh my God ..." ... and I fessed up immediately. He was slightly amused.

[Guest]

The lottery is always a big topic around work. Every one tells us their dreams of the big life and so on. A co-worker and I have been around these conversations so many times that we can steer them in just about any direction we want. One of our favorite ways to end the conversations and bust everyones bubble goes like this.

My Coworker: Hey man, do you play? You cant win if you don't play.

Me: No I don't play

My Co-worker: Why not?

ME: Well, I figure that I got about the same odds of winning if'n I buy a ticket or not.

Then the depression sets in and everyone goes back to work

Indeed a long shot . 1 in 175 mil is still much better than zero. Buying more than one is silly though

[AlecWest]

Buying more than one is silly though.

Once, my ex-wife bought a scratch ticket and won $50. Immediately, she went back in the store and bought $50 in quick-picks for the next lotto drawing. Out of those 50 tickets, one if them matched 3 of 6 ... which won her a "free ticket" on another drawing. She got her free ticket for the next drawing and it won nothing at all.

[MackemX]

Buying more than one is silly though.

Once, my ex-wife bought a scratch ticket and won $50. Immediately, she went back in the store and bought $50 in quick-picks for the next lotto drawing. Out of those 50 tickets, one if them matched 3 of 6 ... which won her a "free ticket" on another drawing. She got her free ticket for the next drawing and it won nothing at all.

yeah if you go back for more each time you will only lose, I've done it . Best go to another shop on another day

[lordsmurf]

$115 about 10 years ago, losing ever since.

[AlecWest]

There are about 16 people who work in my section. One thing I've always thought about is if I ever won a BIG jackpot ($100 mil. or more), I'd like to hire a lawyer to go to all of them and make them an offer ... quit with no notice at the same time on the same day in exchange for, say, a $2 million annuity ... an annuity they'd forfiet if they went back to work after accepting it. Frankly, I think they'd all take the money and run ... and so would I ... leaving my supervisor showing up for work one night with no one to work for him. And as a going-away present on the night before everyone left, it would be fun to hire two courageous uninhibited college students (one male, one female) to "streak" through my workplace at mid-shift.

Anyone else ever considered practical jokes on employers before leaving them (after winning a lottery)? Post-employment practical jokes?

[lordsmurf]

Anyone else ever considered practical jokes on employers before leaving them (after winning a lottery)? Post-employment practical jokes?

Yes. Even without winning a lottery.

[MackemX]

I can't believe the people who do win millions on the lottery and then still go back to work. Sad gits!

the syndicate I was in at work always said we would turn up for work as normal and then just walk out leaving them with no workers on the shift . Basically the same as Alec's

[anitract]

People, people...where is your respect for your place of employment???? $()@(#)*

...

That said, I would do the very same.

[AlecWest]

Anyone else ever considered practical jokes on employers before leaving them (after winning a lottery)? Post-employment practical jokes?

Yes. Even without winning a lottery.

There is one former employer I hated so much that I decided, if I ever won the lottery, I'd impersonate a landscape contractor. About two hours before they opened in the morning, I'd order a dump truck full of manure dumped in their parking lot (telling the driver I had a crew coming later to work it into the surrounding soil), hehe. And, I'd try to have it scheduled on a day when rain was predicted.

But darn it, they went out of business (sigh). Still, if I won a lottery jackpot, I could think of a number of people I'd like to "pie" in the face. And, I suspect there are people out there who could be paid to do it. If interested in "pie-ing," check out this Newsweek article from April:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7548667/site/newsweek/