Any Big Winners Here?

[jazz4cash]

This thread is Just for Fun.....

Have you won or do you know someone that has won a BIG prize?
Lottery, Publishers Clearing House, Big Raffle, Etc?

A group of clients won a state lottery pool. I think it was about a dozen participants and the prize was a bit over 1 million each. The group consisted of mostly mechanics and a few salaried managers. The mechanics mostly quit their jobs....some because they hit the jackpot but most left because jealousy by co-workers made the workplace uncomfortable (or so I'm told).

 

[pacergal]

No big winners, but then, I think most people keep it quiet if they can, I know I would!
Years ago, some of my work group did lottery for several months, we won about $500, split 10 ways. I play the lottery maybe once every few months, $5 max. Have won a few dollars here and there.
My parents were Vegas nuts, both won several $4-10,000 pots, but usually they said one won, one lost and they came home equal

 

[Car-Guy]

Not really "that big" but my best single "hit" at a casino is just over 30k... Table game so no W2.

 

[jazz4cash]

Not really "that big" but my best single "hit" at a casino is just over 30k... Table game so no W2.

Well I’m sure that was skill and not luck so maybe it doesn’t count.

 

[Bigdawg]

20 years ago DW won 10K on a charity raffle. 9 years ago I won a Polaris snowmobile on a beer sweepstakes. And of course I won the DW lottery almost 30 years ago. Wait a minute, that one is costing me $. LOL

 

[aaronc879]

I keep trying but no luck so far. I get a one dollar ticket for the State lottery an average of a couple times a month. It gives me some hope I may not have to work a couple more decades or live on under $25K/yr forever

 

[Car-Guy]

Well I’m sure that was skill and not luck so maybe it doesn’t count.

Trust me, it was pure luck....

 

[pb4uski]

The only big thing that I ever won was a lifetime ski pass to a local ski area just after I graduated high school. I used it for the four years that I was in college, but I lived 3 hours away so I didn't use it much. After I graduated from college the ski area filed for banruptcy and the successor in bankruptcy refused to honor it.

Also won $1,000 at one of those dinners where you pay $75 and get dinner for two and they draw and eliminate 100 numbers... it was down to me an a state senator that I knew who was a couple tables away and before we had a chance to conspire to split the grand prize they drew my number.

 

[W2R]

This thread is Just for Fun.....

Have you won or do you know someone that has won a BIG prize?
Lottery, Publishers Clearing House, Big Raffle, Etc?

Nope. IIRC, I never even won a LITTLE prize.

That's OK, I got the biggest prize ever, retirement, although more from persistence than from winning anything.

 

[corn18]

When I was a young test pilot back in 1996, I was good friends with one of the new engineers. We used to dabble on ETrade and talk about our wins and losses. $500 type stuff. One day he comes in and told me he won the lottery. $12M. He stayed on for 6 weeks and then quit. Before he left he showed me his brand new Land Rover.

I saw him about 12 years later somewhere around the outer banks. He had taken the 20 year payout and hadn't worked a day since he won the lottery. He and his wife seemed happy. Hopefully he saved enough to RE.

 

[pb4uski]

If he won $12 million and it was paid out over 20 years that would have been $600k a year, so I'm guessing that he was able to save some of what he received each year.

 

[CardsFan]

Not me, but I have casual friends that hit the local lottery for 1.8 Million. They were about 60 at the time. Getting ready to retire with decent pensions and some savings.

They did some tax evaluation. The lump sum would have been around $600k after the discount for PV and taxes. They elected to take about $60k/year for 30 years. In my opinion this was the right choice, tax wise.

They are not "rich", but they have guaranteed income that is more than enough (counting pensions and SS) for the rest of their lives.

They probably would have been fine with out the lottery. With it, they are golden.

 

[RunningBum]

Stock option values rose so quickly at our company that a lot of us talked about how it was like winning a lottery. They were pretty selective in their hiring though, so it wasn't all dumb luck.

 

[Dtail]

$12 was the biggest prize for me, but retiring at 57 y.o. works nice too.

 

[jazz4cash]

I'll admit that my motivation for this thread is losing the annual Volunteer Fire Dept Classic Corvette Raffle for the 5th year in a row. I wont admit how much I lost but at least it is a worthy cause.

I agree that ER feels like winning the lottery.

 

[Car-Guy]

I'll admit that my motivation for this thread is losing the annual Volunteer Fire Dept Classic Corvette Raffle for the 5th year in a row. I wont admit how much I lost but at least it is a worthy cause.

If it's ever a 63 split window I might want to buy some tickets.

 

[Golden sunsets]

DD won $25,000 after guessing the right number of jelly beans in a very large jar many years ago at a random guessing contest at a square in NYC. She shared the prize with a friend she was with when they submitted one guess each, although the winning number submitted was technically her guess. After the payment of state and federal taxes and subsequent sharing of the net proceeds, the amount was well under $10 000, but the win makes for a great story.

 

[jazz4cash]

If it's ever a 63 split window I might want to buy some tickets.

HEHEHE. You know better than that! It's usually 64-66 roadster

 

[chilkoot]

This may be a bit of a stretch...
A few years ago my siblings and I sold our mom’s house after she passed. The couple who bought it paid cash, from lottery winnings (they gave the house to their daughter).

 

[aja8888]

Several years ago, I won two first class round trip airline tickets to London. DW and I went andthe trip cost me about $5K.

 

[jollystomper]

I think the biggest thing we won was free pizza from Pizza Hut for a year, back in the 1980s. With a growing family at the time, it was a welcome prize.

 

[Souschef]

Not really a BIG win, but in 2009 I rolled my $185K 401K into some mutual funds. Their value right now is $1.2M. Slow and steady.
RMD's are a first world problem

BUT my biggest win in life has been DW. We are coming up on 13 years married.

 

[Koolau]

DW's small business used a lot of radio advertising. One station used to hold an appreciation dinner and had a number of great door prizes. TWO years in a row, DW won season tickets for the local Conference University school's basket ball games. At the time, that was about $500 (closer to a grand by now, I'm guessing.) YMMV

 

[Jerry1]

A couple years ago, my first year of official retirement (after my severance ran out), I won $50K playing the Powerball. $50K was great, especially since my budget is under $100K, but the exciting thing was that to get that win, I only missed one number. For a brief moment, it was VERY exciting.

 

[scrabbler1]

Stock option values rose so quickly at our company that a lot of us talked about how it was like winning a lottery. They were pretty selective in their hiring though, so it wasn't all dumb luck.

I always considered the 3000% rise in the per-share value of the former company's stock to be the equivalent of winning the lottery. It was worth around $300k by the time I left.