Bob, I never called you a liar, maybe someone else did.  I said it's too easy to pose as an imposter, to portray someone else, on the internet, and that includes pictures.   If you are who you say you are, great, and if not, fine, life still goes on.

I have read your story in the paper, you said the lesson you learned was to sign your ticket immediately upon purchase, I was surprised the show didn't really go into that at all, signing it, putting it in a bank vault, any of that stuff.   I was also kinda surprised they didn't take 5 minutes to show how a drawing really happens. 

TIMINT - they want to (need to) disclose the identities of the winners so the public knows the win is above-board, that some Lottery official's brother didn't 'somehow' get a winning ticket...... or reasons like that.  But how they can prove or disprove that is beyond me.  You CAN rig the lottery in that the very second the winning numbers come up, your database guy plugs those number into a database, and you can crank out a ticket behind the scenes.  Not every Lottery sales site has video cameras, so that isn't a concern, you can attribute the ticket being sold from one of those types of sites.  But even beyond that you can send 'Wally' on a drive across america, have him stop in at a truck stop at 6:07 on a Monday evening, buy 20 tickets, all losers, but then crank out 20 new tickets behind the scenes that are all time-stamped 6:07 from the same truck stop, pull a switch, and nobody is the wiser.   I wonder how they combat that, besides 'trust' ?

Do I think it's rigged ?   NO. 

First thing I would do if I won it is to move - buy a house or condo 50-100 miles away in the name of a Trust that cannot be traced back to me, disconnect all phones and buy those disposable ones from Kwikkie-Mart.   I pay ALL of my bills online, so there is NO reason for me to get mail (not even Xmas cards), but I would have a PO Box somewhere... but not in my name.

Bob:

I want to thank you for your posts.  They were informative and, for a change, right on.  What your doing regarding the sentence is your call, and I respect your fortrightness on the topic.  Good luck with the whole episode.

I watched the show last night by chance and was impressed with it overall.  I was wondering, since your a real winner in the game, what you thought of the show and how it handled the topic.  My feeling was they did a good job, even showing the young lady who had won in California and had gotten off to a good start.

Finally, as a limited amount player of the lottery, I was wondering if you had any personal advice for us wanna be's here in case we might win the big one?

Thanks for your posts, hope you'll continue to march. 

I have a problem with the media making a big deal out of people spending all of there winnings in a few years.  If your including winners that only take in $200-300K, then of course that's going to go fast.  I have a spreadsheet of what I would spend a state lotto win on and it would be gone fairly quickly.  I would buy a decent car and boat, pay my debts, do some work on my house, take a vacation and it would be about gone.  Let's face it, 99% of lottery jackpots don't pay retirement money.  Even if I won a couple million dollars, I don't see how it would last me through retirement when I am only 34, but it would be a good start.

Tony, with the right kind of planning, 3 million would definitely last a lifetime (figuring 40 years at paying yourself $75,000 a year - and at this point tax-free since you paid taxes on it before they handed you the check) and that's not counting any interest you may have earned, or stock market profits, but 2 million ?  Maybe not, but that's mainly because of the cost of health care.

Winning $200,000 - $500,000 is good enough to pay off debt (for the most part), and possibly have a little nest egg, money that is there when you need it. 

I absolutely agree with you.  I just cringed when I saw they guy that bought a 'big' jet airplane, and then the guy that bought the mansion in Florida but lost it over a $5,000 home association dues not being paid ?  I saw his cars, one was a Ferrari Enzo - a 1.2 million dollar car.

If I won it, I'd buy a place slightly newer than the one I have, and to be honest, yes, I'd buy an exotic car, but not a 1.2 million dollar exotic car (and even that is only if I won THE Powerball Jackpot).  But I'd also buy a Toyota or a Lexus, also.  (sorry, no jet for me).   I wouldn't buy a new wardrode, gold rolexes, diamond jewelry, ancient paintings or pottery, or anything like that.  I don't need a Ming vase or a Faberge' egg. 

It was that teenage guy that made me cringe.  I almost felt he didn't deserve to win the lottery.  And the whole time they were showing that segment, I thought, is that the king's English they are speaking.  We've come a long way. They need Professor Higgins.  All of their syllables just ran into and over each other.  I'm was like - what did you just say? gee

He was a thug.

He should be kept in prison for robbing us of oxygen. 

I wasn't really thinking about it after taxes, I would have to win about $6 million to make that happen.  Even so, 75K/yr in the year 2046 would probably put me close to (or below) the poverty line.  Not to mention the fact that I don't want to die at age 74, hopefully I will make it to at least 85.

If I didn't quit my job and made good investments for 40 years then I would do pretty well, but then that would not really be retiring on $3 million.  However, I don't really have to worry about this scenario since all we have is a state lottery that pays on average $300K, highest JP take by 1 person was $850K (all before taxes), and Powerball. 

Wish I had seen this.  Did this guy think he was Snoop Dog or something?  Even if I won a $200 million jackpot, I would buy a used yacht and luxury car off of ebay at an auction price (not more than 100K).  I have too much respect for money for that kind of waste.

The show will be on again  the 27th at 9 PM

  Misery loves company.  So true.  Some people revel at the misery of others;  they don't revel the same way when they see your good fortune.

I'll have to set my DVR.

Amen...

And the media loves to feed this simple-minded notion.  This is one of the biggest problems in America, people need to think with their heads not their emotions.  Be glad for the winnners, even though you envy them.

I saw this news on TV.  My first thought at that time was: who, what, how , and where was the ticket stolen?  I didn't realize, the clerk did it by switching tickets.

Bob21456, congratulations on your win. 

In an earlier post, you seem very concerned about the 5 and 1/2 yr prison term for this kind of non-violent crime.  I, too have a problem with the prison system.  They don't really do much to rehabilitate the individual, I believe.  But what would be an alternative?  Until we have a better rehabilitation system, we're stuck with it.  Any thoughts?  I've been concerned about this subject for a long time now.