Man claims $16M Florida Lotto prize

if Perot had the nads to run again ....I'd vote for him

anything HAS GOT TO BE BETTER then whar we at now  !!!!

whaaaaaa? is it their wrinkles, their squinty little eyes or ears?

Like some one else said on the LP, I only spend the extra dollar one time a year; when Powerball replaces a number 5 with the number 10.  I have never cheered for second place, and never will.  All my money goes for the jackpot; any hit less is nice money, but also a disappointment.  I think the megaplier is a waste of money.  Hundreds of thousand of dollars go into the state coffers twice a week, and they pay back on a less then a handfull; sometime none.  Throwing money at the lottery is bad enough, throwing another dollar at the megaplier is a major step back in the DNA evolution.  Your returns are better with two tickets then one ticket.  Simple math!

Remember, the goal of the lottery is to take as much money from you as possible.  Your goal is to outwit all the experts and tremendous odds; only you get to spend real money proving your point and they get to keep your money when you fail.  Who is right more often then not?

I think I would probably be more disappointed if I matched a 5+0 than I would if I didn't match anything. Sure the second prize is nice but I was just a power/mega ball away from the jackpot! It'd bug me even after getting the $250,000 before taxes check.

A lot of people like huge ears.  Look at Barrack Hussen Obama, the half-white guy.  His ears are  twice the normal size. He has forbidden the left wing drive-by media to talk about them, but I can.  They are huge! Looks like a tall Perot with a tan!

Yeah me too. I would cry and whimper all the way to the mortgage office!  They would need a bucket to accept my payment.  Some how, I feel they would cry also; thinking of the interest they'll be loosing, and thr wet bucket.

Way to go.  I was not aware that there was also an additional option for annuity and lump sum.  Neat concept for the young (thirty-five) and younger.  When you hit fifty, you need to lump-sum-it! LOL

I never got an answer, but I once wrote to the lottery and asked if a winner can take the base jackpot as a lump sum and the bonus as an annuity.  Doesn't that make sense?  It would actually benefit the lottery commission since they wouldn't have to payout as much.  For someone who is concerned about managing his or her money, that might be the best of both worlds.  For example, if you win Lotto on Sat, you'll get $21 million with a $1 bet.  For me, there is absolutely no reason to add the extra dollar and it would make more sense to just buy another ticket.  However, let's say I marked the bonus box and go for the $10 million additional prize.  I'd have a huge base jackpot to use for investing, purchasing homes & cars, etc., and a yearly cash flow of around $335K for the next 30 years (or $835K if I bet the extra $2)   It would all depend on the current annuity rate too.  At first that's the way I thought the new game was designed, but it's obviously not since this winner got the entire $16 million. Actually, getting over $9 million isn't a bad payout, so I think the lump sum is better all around no matter how old you are.  Still, I think having both options as I mentioned above is a good idea.

No matter how you slice, choosing the annuity equals loosing control of the base value.  You have no control over it what-so-ever.  You have no guarantee that the end prize promised will happen.  The state will transfer the money to some group and they are no longer involved.  No state has the resources to manage annuitys for year after year.  Can you name a state that does not need extra money for something? No, they always need extra money.  Some day they will need money, and look around for resources.  Guess what is laying there waiting for them? The annuity's! They would drop a tax, say an additional 10%, and you could do nothing about it! You signed the form, you have zero control. Your participation is to get the annual check, minus what they want to take away.

You choose cash, in all cases, and you can only be taxed on the principle once - never again. To never be taxed again (on the priniciple) and to have control of my income. What a concept!  That, or spend the next twenty, thirty, or whatever, years wondering if some one will be kind enough to give you what they promised, and not give you what they didn't warn you about.

There's no question that it would be nice if you had the option of taking some cash upfront while setting some aside as an annuity,  but that's not an option anywhere. I think it's an IRS issue, though if you can choose cash or annuity I don't see a logical reason why you couldn't choose some cash and the  rest as annuity. Regardless of how some people view the Florida game, there's only one jackpot, so you only get the one choice for cash or annuity. The payout for the lottery is exactly the same whether it's cash or annuity, because the cash is used to fund the annuity. I expect the lottery prefers paying the cash, because then they're done with it, and they don't have to worry about the annuity.